Maria Theresa and the Arts

Empress Maria Theresa pursued a singular approach when it came to cultural policy. She sought reform not only in education, but also in the field of art, and commissioned a wealth of works from painters, sculptors, and other artists in Austria and abroad. These reform efforts brought about an upswing in portrait and landscape painting, ceiling frescoes, allegorical works, and sculpture, leading to the international consolidation of the newly formed House of Habsburg-Lorraine, as well as a plethora of baroque masterpieces. This lavishly illustrated volume celebrates the three-hundredth anniversary of Maria Theresa’s birth and her life’s passion for the fine arts, the traces of which persist to this day in the countries of the former Habsburg Monarchy.