Austrian School, circa 1800
Portrait of an Archduke in White Uniform with the Golden Fleece
Oil on canvas

Unsigned, a later typewritten label on the backing. 9 x 6 inches (23 x 15 cm), the frame 11 x 8 inches (28 x 20.5 cm). Worn gilt frame. Age craquelure, the paint layer stable.

The uniform is white and the face almost as pale, so all the color of the picture sits on his chest. A red sash, a red and gold badge on a ribbon, and a silver star set with green and red.

The sitter is shown half length and turned three quarters to the left, his long face set under grey hair rolled at the sides and tied at the back with a black ribbon. He wears the white coat of the Austrian army with a high blue collar and silver buttons, a lace jabot at the throat and a waistcoat of blue and silver brocade. The Golden Fleece hangs from a red ribbon on his breast, its red flints under a small crown, and beside it he wears the breast star of the Military Order of Maria Theresa. A typewritten slip in French, taped to the backing long after the portrait was painted, names him as the Archduke Charles of Austria. Nothing on the painting itself confirms it or rules it out.