Leopold Fertbauer: The imperial family grouped around the Duke of Reichstadt, oil painting, 1826

Franz II (I) – an upright family man

1804–1835

Franz II (I) liked to stylize himself as the ‘Father of his State’, in keeping with the Biedermeier patriarchal ideal of the man as the head of the family. This ideal appears in numerous works of art, including portraits of the ruler, and also in the image that the emperor projected when he made public appearances. The main characteristics of this image were domesticity, a close affinity to Nature and the cultivation of family life.

Leopold Fertbauer: The imperial family grouped around the Duke of Reichstadt, oil painting, 1826