Maria Angelica Richter von Binnenthal
by KRAFFT, Johann Peter, Oil on canvas, 53 x 43 cn
The mood of the time is very evident in the matching pair of portrait’s of Franz Xaver Richter von Binnenthal, who was a Viennese official who had been ennobled, and his wife, Maria Angelica Richter von Binnenthal, n�e Freiin von Zach. The graceful wife bears the 25-year difference in age from her husband with the same dignity as he wears his 1814 medal. Moreover, the colours of the clothing are skillfully balanced: her black dress with its white collar is the inversion of his Habsburg uniform. Her white lace collar also indicates a fashion during the Restoration, when the house of Habsburg liked to look back to its old Spanish empire.