Joseph II was the son of Francis I (1708-65) and the Empress Maria Theresa (1717-80); he succeeded his father in 1765, but only acted as sole ruler for a decade after the death of his mother in 1780. He was one of the key ‘enlightened despots’ of the eighteenth century, liberating surfs and establishing religious toleration in 1781 and abolishing the death penalty in 1787.

In this crude version of an otherwise unknown composition, the Emperor appears half-length, in green uniform, wearing the ribbon of the Order of the Golden Fleece and the ribbon and star of the Order of Maria Theresa.