After Hyacinthe Rigaud, 18th Century Portrait of Frederick Augustus II, later Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland (1696-1763), standing full-length, attended by a page
After Hyacinthe Rigaud, 18th Century
Portrait of Frederick Augustus II, later Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland (1696-1763), standing full-length, attended by a page oil on canvas80.3 x 64cm (31 5/8 x 25 3/16in).
注脚
The present work is after the original portrait by Rigaud which is now in the Staatlische Kunstsammlungen, Dresden (inv. no. 760). This painting was executed in 1715, when Frederick Augustus was 19 years old.Frederick Augustus was the only legitimate son of Augustus II (the Strong) and converted to the Roman Catholicism in 1712 to secure his candidacy for the Polish throne. In 1719 he married Maria Josepha, daughter of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor. The nuptials fulfilled a dual function. On the one hand, it was to forge an alliance between Saxony and Austria for mutual protection against the rising power of Prussia.At the same time, Augustus the Strong hoped that this diplomatic alliance to the eldest child of one of the most powerful catholic nations in Europe would increase the likelihood of the Imperial Crown coming to Saxony. Frederick Augustus II became Elector of Saxony following his father's death in 1733. He was elected King of Poland by a small minority on 5 October 1733 and was crowned in Kraków on 17 January 1734. Augustus III and Maria Josepha had fourteen children, among them Maria Josepha of Saxony who married Louis, Dauphin of France.