of Maria Christina of Austria and Albert Casimir of Saxony collection Albert was a younger son of King
Augustus III of Poland (who was also
Elector of Saxony) and his wife,
Maria Josepha of Austria, a first cousin of Empress Maria Theresa, being the eldest daughter of
Emperor Joseph I. Prince Albert of Saxony, Duke of Teschen, was also one of the godparents to his namesake,
Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Young Albert was specifically chosen by
Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria to be her husband, after her romance with
Louis Eugen of Württemberg. This was a special favour granted by her mother, Empress
Maria Theresa of Austria, because marriages of imperial children were usually used for diplomatic purposes. Still, the betrothal and wedding had to wait until the death of her father, Emperor
Francis I, and the wedding decorations were black because it occurred during the official mourning period after his death. From his father-in-law's estate, Albert received the territory of
Teschen in
Austrian Silesia and was accordingly given the title of
Duke of Teschen. The Silesian
Duchy of Teschen had been inherited by Emperor Francis through his father's
Gonzaga ancestry, as compensation for the lost
Duchy of Montferrat, taken from them in favor of the dukes of Savoy. Archduchess Maria Christina, the daughter of Francis of Lorraine, received the duchy among her dowry. Prince Albert of Saxony thus became the
Duke of Teschen, the only non-Habsburg to become such after the title passed into Habsburg control. Their only daughter; • Princess Maria Theresia Josepha Johanna Nepomucena of Saxony (b.
Vienna, 16 May 1767 - d.
Vienna, 17 May 1767) died in infancy Upon the death of the widowed Albert in 1822, Teschen was granted to their adopted son,
Archduke Charles of Austria, who became Duke of Teschen and started the Habsburg-Lorraine branch of Dukes of Teschen. Albert was royal governor of
Hungary from 1765 to 1781, with his seat at
Bratislava Castle and his summer residence in
Halbturn Castle at
Neusiedl. He was then made
Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, along with his wife. In
Brussels, they built a palace in
Laeken (the present-day home of the
Belgian royal family) as their seat. There, he assembled the beginnings of his vast art collection, which he took with him when the couple had to flee from Brussels to
Vienna in 1793, due to the
French Revolution and following his military defeat by invasion forces at the
Battle of Jemappes. In Vienna, a palace adjoining the
Hofburg, originally designed by
Emanuel Teles Silva-Tarouca, was enlarged for them by architect
Louis Montoyer. That palace is today called the
Albertina, after Albert, and houses the collection he started. Only two-thirds of his collection survives, because one of the cargo ships bringing it from Brussels sank
en route. After his return to Vienna, he used as an advisor
Adam von Bartsch, the Curator of the Imperial prints collection and the greatest prints scholar of his age. After the early death of his wife in 1798 of
typhus, Albert lived only for his art collection, which he bequeathed to his nephew and adopted son,
Archduke Charles of Austria. Next door to his palace, in the
Augustinerkirche, Albert had a famous memorial to his wife carved by
Antonio Canova. The couple are buried in tombs 111 and 112 in the
Tuscan Vault of the
Imperial Crypt in Vienna, with their hearts in urns 40 and 28 in the nearby
Herzgruft, and their viscera in urns 75 and 63 of the
Ducal Crypt in
Vienna's cathedral. ==Ancestry==