Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria

Maximilian III Joseph (1727-1777), son of Emperor Charles VII Albrecht and Maria Amalia, a daughter of Emperor Joseph I, was the last male member of the electoral line of the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty. In 1747 he married Maria Anna Sophie, daughter of King August III in Munich. The couple remained childless.
In 1745, after Maria Theresia’s victory over the electorate of Bavaria, Maximilian had to give up his father’s power policy, for in the same year not he but Francis II of Austria was elected to be the new Emperor. This development, though, allowed the Elector to implement some domestic reforms which Bavaria, being severely indebted, urgently needed. Important innovations under his reign were the introduction of mandatory elementary education in 1770 and the foundation of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. Due to financial restrictions, Maximilian’s cultural and artistic projects could only be realised on a modest scale: the Cuvilliés Theatre in the Munich Residence is considered to be one of his most prominent buildings.
This picture was copied after the easel painting by the Munich court portraitist Georg Desmarées and its style and painting technique match those in miniatures by this artist.¹ The native-born Swede studied the techniques of miniature and enamel painting with Martin van Meytens in Stockholm. After residing in Amsterdam, Nuremberg, Venice and Augsburg, he was appointed to the Munich court by Maximilian’s father in 1730.
Maximilian wears the diamond-studded badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the sash of the Bavarian Order of Saint George and its star.² The red cross on the latter is almost completely bleached.
B. P.