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Teutonic Order is an absolutely authentic and typical work of the well known Viennese miniaturist Carl Ludwig Hummel de Bourdon. Our additional image with comparison convincingly confirms this statement.

Anton Viktor (1779-1835) was the eighth son of Kaiser (emperor) Leopold II of Austria and his wife Maria Ludovika. At the age of 21 he was elected to be a Prince-Bishop of Muenster and Kurfuerst of Cologne, but could not assume these posts due to French occupation of the Left Rheine Region. He returned to Vienna, where he joined the Teutonic (Deutsche) Order. In 1804 he became the Grand Master (Hochmeister) of the Order (we are certain that this is also when our miniature was painted!). In 1816-28, Anton Viktor was a Vice-King of Lombardia-Venice; he lived in Baden by Vienna after 1828. He was also an Honour Member of the Viennese Academy of Fine Arts.

Carl Ludwig Hummel de Bourdon was born ca.1769 into an aristocratic family living in Besançon, France. During the French Revolution he fled from the Great Terror from France and settled in Austria (this suggestion stems from Dr. Bodo Hofstetter (Switzerland); see his recently published catalogue "Portraitminiaturen/ Museum Liaunig", Neuhaus, 2015, p. 371). For the first time he is mentioned in a marriage contract completed in Vienna in 1800. In this document he is named as court artist of Archduke Joseph's (Palatine of Hungary) wife - Alexandra Pavlovna, nee Grand Duchess of Russia. This fact has made some art historian to suppose that Carl Hummel de Bourdon has spent a few years in Hungary in this period. Dr. Hofstetter believes that this supposition is not convincing enough, since the wedding of Alexandra Pavlovna and the Archduke Joseph took place on 30 October 1799, and Hummel's wedding took place in Vienna (and not in Hungary) a few months later.

It seems in the mid 1810s he spent some time in Poland (or Lemberg (Lviv) belonging then to the Austrian Empire, capital of formerly Polish (since 1772 Austrian) province Galicia). This supposition is supported by a lot of his portraits of Polish aristocrats of that time.

He died in Vienna in 1840 at the age of 71.

Condition: good

Creation Year: 1804

Measurements: UNFRAMED: 6,6x6,6cm/2,6x2,6in FRAMED: 7,2x7,2cm/2,8x2,8in

Object Type: Framed miniature

Style: Portrait Miniatures

Technique:  watercolor on organic wafer

Inscription: verso: illegible old legend