The tomb of Archduchess Maria Christina

A Classicist masterpiece

If you enter the Augustinian Church from Josefsplatz, you will find the tomb of Archduchess Maria Christina (1742-1798) of the House of Hapsburg-Lorraine, the wife of Albert of Saxe-Teschen (1738-1822) and one of the daughters of Maria Theresa.

The artist responsible from 1798 to 1805 is the Italian painter and sculptor Antonio Canova (1757-1822).

This is a cenotaph or mock tomb, since the body of Archduchess Maria Christina is interred, as is the case with most Hapsburg corpses, in the Capuchin Crypt. Her heart lies in the Hearts Crypt of the Augustinian Church, not far from the tomb.

The tomb is in the form of a wall pyramid and bears the inscription,”uxori optimae albertus” (“Albert, of the best spouse”). A funeral procession is moving up 3 steps to the gate of the pyramid, which symbolises the transition to the realm of the Dead.

At the front, the personification of virtue, carrying the ashes of the deceased. She is accompanied by 2 girls with torches. Charity follows with a blind, old man on her arm.

On the steps on the right we find a genius or guardian spirit from Roman mythology huddled with a lion. Genius and the lion symbolise the grief of the widowed Duke Albert of Saxe-Teschen and the strength of Maria Christina. The personification of felicity hovers above the entrance to the pyramid with a portrait of the Archduchess.

With his tomb for Archduchess Maria Christina of the House of Hapsburg-Lorraine, produced in the finest Carrara marble, Antonio Canova has created a major work of Classicist tomb art.