(Nice 1705–1765 Paris)
Portrait of Empress Elisabeth Christine, Princess of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1691–1750), signed centre right: Carl Van Loo,
oil on canvas, 262 x 163 cm, framed

Provenance:
European Private Collection

Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, daughter of Duke Louis Rudolph and Princess Christine Louise of Oettingen-Oettingen, married Archduke Charles in 1708, who at that time claimed the throne of Spain as Charles III. After the death of his brother, Emperor Joseph I, the Archduke left Spain and succeeded him as Emperor with the name of Charles IV. He appointed his wife Governor of Spain, where she remained until 1713. Charles and Elisabeth Christine led a happy married life by the standards of the time. With reference to her fair complexion, he called her “White Liz”. The couple had four children, but the much desired son and successor to the throne died shortly after his birth. As a result of the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713, the elder daughter, Maria Theresa, succeeded her father in the Hapsburg hereditary possessions. After the brief intermezzo of the Wittelsbach Emperor Charles VII, Francis Stephen of Lorraine, Elisabeth Christine’s son-in-law, was elected Emperor in 1750. The Emperor’s widow had a good relationship with her daughter and was deeply mourned at her death.