Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria
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Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (Wiener Neustadt January 5, 1614–Vienna November 20, 1662), was a Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, a military commander in the service of Spain, and a patron of the arts. He is also known as Leopold Wilhelm von Habsburg but as a son of the Emperor carried the title Archduke of Austria.
The youngest son of Ferdinand II of Habsburg and of Maria-Anna of Bavaria (1574–1616), daughter of William V, Duke of Bavaria. His elder brother became Emperor Ferdinand III (1608–1657).
When he assumed the government of the Spanish Netherlands, Leopold Wilhelm, being a great lover of art, employed the great Flemish painter David Teniers the Younger not only as a painter but as keeper of the collection of pictures he was then forming. With the rank and title of "ayuda de camara," Teniers took up his abode in Brussels shortly after 1647. Immense sums were spent in the acquisition of paintings for the archduke. A number of valuable works of the Italian masters, now in the Vienna Museum, came from Leopold's gallery after having belonged to Charles I and the duke of Buckingham. De Bie (1661) states that Teniers was some time in London, collecting pictures for the duke of Fuensaldana, then acting as Leopold's lieutenant in the Netherlands.
Paintings in Madrid, Munich, Vienna and Brussels have enabled art critics to form an opinion of what the imperial residence was at the time of Leopold Wilhelm, who is represented as conducted by Teniers and admiring some recent acquisition. No picture in the gallery is omitted, every one being inscribed with a number and the name of its author, so that the ensemble of these paintings might serve as an illustrated inventory of the collection.
When Leopold returned to Vienna, the pictures also travelled to Austria, and a Flemish priest, himself a first-rate flower painter, Van der Baren, became keeper of the archducal gallery. Leopold bequeathed his gallery to his nephew Leopold I, and it became imperial property. It is now part of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
| Preceded by: Emmanuel de Moura Cortereal, Marquis of Castel Rodrigo |
Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands 1647–1656 | Succeeded by: John of Austria the Younger |
| Preceded by Johann Caspar von Stadion |
Grand Master of the Teutonic Order 1641–1662 |
Succeeded by Karl Josef of Austria |
