Page - 338 - in Die Repräsentation der Habsburg-Lothringischen Dynastie in Musik, visuellen Medien und Architektur - 1618–1918

338 Sektion IV: Zeremonielle Räume und die „Öffentlichkeiten“ by white statues of St Francisca of Rome and St Clare, wearing monastic habits and holding identification attributes in their hands. The choice of this central motif in the painting and the Hungarian crown semantically detach the altar from a purely religious message, as they are a fusion of sacred and secular elements in the apotheo- sis of the saint and the sacralisation of the empress – a declarative case of political iconography in sacred space as one of the most prominent mass media in the early modern period. It was the crown of St Stephen that Maria Theresa liked to wear as the queen of Croatia and Hungary27, and it features in all her state portraits among the other insignia of power (Fig. 6).28 Figure 5: Požega Cathedral, former parish church of St Theresa of Avila, the main altar.