Page - 93 - in Die Repräsentation der Habsburg-Lothringischen Dynastie in Musik, visuellen Medien und Architektur - 1618–1918

The Absent Empress 93 ages Barthes used as key visual evidence.34 Nevertheless, the inclusion of photography activated Olin’s ‘performative index’, inviting viewers to imagine relationships with the photographic figures in a manner that simply did not function within other media. Lithographic portraits of the imperial family could never inspire the same type of reflection as photographic portraits. This photographic quality removed the burden of relationship building from Franz Joseph and Elisabeth and transferred it to the viewers. The success of these photomontages set a precedent for a portrait practice that would extend until the end of the century. Existing between the boundaries of multi- ple media, the photomontages evade the expectations of photographic, lithographic, and painted portraits. Nevertheless, the insertion of narrative compositions drawn from imperial and Biedermeier portraiture suggests that the tropes of monarchical celebrity were works-in-progress. Similar to photography itself, the rules for popular representations of royalty during this period were still being written. Endnotes 1 For a history of cartes de visite in the nineteenth century, see Elizabeth Anne McCauley, A. A. E. Disdéri and the Carte de Visite Portrait Photograph, New Haven-London 1985. 2 The images central to my argument were the subject of an 1998 exhibition at the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek with the accompanying catalogue by Gerda Mraz/Ulla Fischer-Westhauser (Eds.), Elisabeth, Prinzessin in Bayern, Kaiserin von Österreich, Königin von Ungarn. Wunschbilder oder die Kunst der Retouche, exhibition catalogue Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Vienna-Mu- nich 1998. 3 Brigitte Hamann, The Reluctant Empress (trans. by Ruth Hein), Berlin 2000, 95–125. 4 Hamann, Reluctant Empress (as note 3), 100. 5 Hamann, Reluctant Empress (as note 3), 102. 6 For analysis of Franz Joseph’s use of public appearances, see Daniel Unowsky, The Pomp and Politics of Patriotism. Imperial Celebrations in Habsburg Austria, 1848–1916, West Lafayette (Ind.) 2005. 7 Portraits of the Archduke Karl Ludwig with his family can be found in Ludwig Angerer’s Musteral- ben (Albertina). For more on the relationship between the court photographer Ludwig Angerer and the imperial family, see Ulla Fischer-Westhauser, Court Photographers – Photographers for the Court? in: Anna Auer (Ed.), Photography and Research in Austria. Vienna, the Door to the Euro- pean East, Vienna 2001, 69–78. 8 This is especially true during the reign of Maria Theresa. For a study of Maria Theresa’s use of family portraiture to secure her position, see Michael Yonan, Empress Maria Theresa and the Politics of Habsburg Imperial Art, University Park (Pa.) 2011. 9 The 1998 Mraz/Fischer-Westhauser catalogue (as note 2) lists the artist of this image as Emil von Hartitzsch, but the Österreichische Nationalbibliothek Bildarchiv only records the publisher Joseph Bermann as an author (Inventarnummer Pf 19000 E 337). To remain consistent with the Bildarchiv documentation, I describe the artist as anonymous. 10 Mraz and Fischer-Westhauser include comparable examples from as late as 1898. Mraz/Fischer- Westhauser, Wunschbilder (as note 2), 133. 11 Leo Braudy, The Frenzy of Renown. Fame and Its History, New York 1986.