!!!Leopold Wilhelm, Erzherzog

b. Wiener Neustadt (Lower Austria), Jan. 6, 1614, 
d. Vienna, Nov. 20, 1662, Archduke, Bishop of Olmuetz (Olomouc), 
Halberstadt, Passau, Strasbourg, and Grand Master of the Teutonic 
Order, 2%%sup nd/%  son of Emperor  Ferdinand II. In 1639 was 
given supreme command of the Imperial army ( Thirty Years´ War), 
drove the Swedish out of Bohemia in 1640, and in 1645 out of 
Franconia. During his time as governor of the Spanish Netherlands 
(1646-1656) made peace with the United Provinces and fought against 
France with varying degrees of success. Was a great collector of 
paintings and supported by the Flemish painter D. Teniers the Younger 
collected around 1,400 paintings (mainly property belonging to the 
British crown and aristocracy sold at auctions in Brussels during the 
time of Cromwell) as well as sculptures, bronzes and tapestries he had 
brought to Vienna in 1656, which he bequeathed to Emperor  
Leopold I. These collection pieces still constitute the basis 
collection of the Vienna  Kunsthistorisches Museum  (Main works of 
16th and 17th century Venetian masters, Dutch School).

!Literature
R. Schreiber, Erzherzog L. W. Kirche, Krieg und 
Kunst, master´s thesis, Vienna 1998; NDB.



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