Maria Theresa as a Widow

Maron depicts the empress in the widow’s weeds that she always wore after the death of Emperor Francis Stephen in 1765. Her only jewellery is the cross of the Order of the Starry Cross. She is allegorically enhanced of the personification of “peace through strength” in the background. The only coloured accent is the “Transylvanian” carpet at her feet. The portrait differs from the resplendent courtly portraits of the previous period in its sobriety and lack of decoration.