Samuel Cousins after Sir Thomas Lawrence

His Serene Highness Clement Wenceslaus Lother Prince of Metternich-Winneburg, Chancellor of the Court and State of his Majesty The Emperor of Austria &c &c

17 x 22.5 inches

Metternich-Winneberg (1773-1859) was an Austrian statesman and diplomat who was pivotal in many of the political decisions that were made in Europe during the Napoleonic period and beyond. He acted as Austrian Foreign Minister from 1809 and was appointed Chancellor in 1821. He led the Austrian delegation at the Congress of Vienna (where he met Sir Thomas Lawrence) and as a reward for his services was made a prince in 1813. Under his guidance Austria allied itself alongside Russia and to a lesser extent with Prussia, thus extending its diplomatic influence far beyond the national boundaries and gaining Austria a strong position in international diplomacy.

Sir Thomas Lawrence was the leading portrait painter in England at the beginning of the C19th and an obvious choice for anyone with political and social aspirations. It was in September 1818 that Lawrence travelled to Europe on a commission to paint the Allied Leaders. He met many of them at the Congress of Vienna. The resulting series would include his portraits of the Emperors of Austria and Russia and later become known as The Waterloo Chamber Series, paintings that hang at Windsor Castle to this day.