Make way for the Archduchess!

Helmut Krauhs’s procession of hereditary homage

While her male predecessors travelled from the Hofburg to the High Mass at St. Stephen’s Cathedral for the act of hereditary homage on horseback, Maria Theresa was carried through the crowds in November 1740 in a litter.

Austrian figurine artist Helmut Krauhs recreated Maria Theresa’s procession through the inner city for the display of a large banking establishment on Vienna’s Graben in 1966, based on the same scene from the Baroque copperplate engraving and accurately reproduced in 3D. The procession comprises around 50 dolls: flagbearers, herald, honorary officials, guards on foot and horseback, not forgetting the state coaches!

The artist paid particular attention to the careful replication of the historical costumes, from the footwear to the gold trim on the uniforms. Detailed accessories indicate the particular office. The Oberst-Erbland-Hofmeister, responsible for domestic economy, is wielding a stick.