Page - 74 - in Die Repräsentation der Habsburg-Lothringischen Dynastie in Musik, visuellen Medien und Architektur - 1618–1918

74 Sektion I: Themen und Medien der Repräsentation In returning to Adam’s print of Franz II after Müller-Deym’s wax portrait and the Latin inscription that accompanies it – “Populos[que] feroces / Contundet, moresque viris et moenia ponet” – it becomes clear that Adam’s print likewise carried a specific message in direct response to the political situation in 1794. Taken from Virgil’s Ae- neid, the inscription even refers specifically to the situation in Italy, the passage in the original reading in full, “He […] shall wage a mighty war in Italy, and subdue fierce Nations, and institute laws and cities for his subjects”.50 Likewise, the motto accom- panying Adam’s portrait of Marie Therese, taken from Horace’s fifth ode to Augustus – “in thy Countenance the Spring / Shines forth to chear[sic] thy People’s Sight”51 – while on one level pure obsequiousness towards an important client, also suggests a particular form of Liebe zum Herrscher52 as it manifested itself with regard to the Empress’ role in maintaining morale during the Revolutionary Wars. Moreover, this was entirely consistent with her presentation in Müller-Deym’s Kunstkabinett, where she is shown as a sort of mother to the Empire (in her supporting role to Franz)53, tirelessly dedicating herself to the wellbeing of her soldiers: “Die erste Statue stellt Sr. Majestät, die Kaiserinn, in Lebensgrösse sitzend vor. Sie ist mit Charpiezupfen [plucking lint54] beschäftigt. Der Künstler scheint geflies- sentlich diese Nebenbeschäftigung zum Sujet seiner Vorstellung gewählt zu haben, um dadurch einen edlen Zug des guten Herzen dieser grossen Monarchinn auszu- drücken. Sie denkt an die verwundeten, aber noch nicht besiegten Krieger Ihrer unüberwindlichen Armee, und sucht mit zu ihrer Erhaltung etwas beyzutragen.”55 Adam’s printed portraits are therefore much more timely images than is perhaps im- mediately apparent, casting their sitters as worthy leaders during the Revolutionary Wars. This timeliness would not have been lost on their audience, an audience which, we might imagine, followed the Austrian campaigns against France as they were re- ported in the Wiener Zeitung.56 Alongside these reports, the newspaper also periodi- cally listed throughout the Revolutionary Wars the names of those “Biedermänner” who had made voluntary financial contributions – “patriotische[…] Beyträge” – to the war effort. Among the names listed was frequently that of Joseph Müller, “In- haber des Kunstkabinets am Kohlmarkt”57; the dissemination in print of his wax portraits of the Kaiserpaar, not least in such a way as would have allowed them to be collected along with prints of the top military brass, must surely have been conceived within this same struggle against Revolutionary France.58 In a seminal study of indexicality as a form of signification, Didi-Huberman ar- gues, using the example of Roman coinage displaying the emperor’s silhouette, that “la frappe – la procédure d’empreinte – à la fois centralise et dissémine le pouvoir de