Martin van Mytens (or Meytens) the Younger (Stockholm, 1695 – Vienna, 1770)
Portrait of Joseph II of Austria
oil on canvas,1766-70
The Queen’s Bath Chamber

Joseph is shown here after 1765, when he became the Holy Roman Emperor on the death of his father and ruled over the hereditary states with his mother Maria Theresa. The imperial regalia of the orb and the crown can be seen on the console table to the right. The presence of the imperial portrait, in an extraordinary late-Baroque frame, in the palace on Via Balbi is indicative of the Durazzo family’s close connections with the Austrian court, which it provided with financial support on a massive scale. It is for this reason that the Emperor visited Genoa in February 1784 and enjoyed the hospitality of the now ailing Marcellino Durazzo and his brother, the celebrated Count Giacomo. The latter, who served first as ambassador of the Genoese Republic in Vienna and then as Austrian ambassador in Venice, was renowned above all as a theatrical impresario, reformer of the opera and celebrated collector of engravings, paintings and books.