Léopold-Guillaume de Habsbourg

Léopold-Guillaume de Habsbourg (Wiener Neustadt, January 5th 1614 - Vienna, November 20th 1662) was general governor Spanish Netherlands, military chief and patron.

The last wire of Ferdinand II of Habsbourg and Marie-Anne of Bavaria (1574 - 1616), he is the younger brother of Jean-Charles de Habsbourg (1605 - 1619) and of Ferdinand III (1608 - 1657) which succeeded their father as emperor.

As wire junior by a princely family, a traditional career of Prince of the Church was initially reserved to him. He was Large-Master of the teutonic Chevaliers, bishop of Halberstadt, Magdeburg, Olmütz, Passau, Breslau and of Strasbourg, office plurality which was not exceptional at the time.

He however passed most of his life to make the war, this why one generally represents it covered of an armor, with a stick of marshal.

In 1640, during the War Thirty Year old, it succeeds in driving out the Swedes of Bohemia but they beat it with Breitenfeld in 1642. In 1645 it demolished in Brigittenau a Swede avant-garde, so that those gave up attacking Vienna.

As a general governor of the Spanish Netherlands, it concludes, by the Traité of Münster (1648), a peace with the United Provinces and fought also the France.

The bishop of Strasbourg

It is about the nephew of Léopold of Austria (bishop of Strasbourg of 1607 to 1624).

His/her uncle had asked, in 1625, that the neuveu succeed to him. Léopold-Guillaume was only twelve years old. From 1611 until its death in 1637, the load of the diocese was carried, actually, by Adolphe, count de Salm-Reifferscheid, senior of the Large-Chapter.

Léopold was at the same time Grand Master of the teutonic Ordre, bishop of Passau, Halberstadt, Olmutz and Breslau, abbot of Murbach and Lure, count de Tyrol and of Galicie.

It carried the load of bishop of Strasbourg lasting thirty-seven years; it was famous never not to have remained in Alsace, because of the Thirty Year old War.

The episcopal functions and the administration were thus ensured by the bishop auxiliary, Paul, count d' Achingen (auxiliary bishop of 1627 to 1644), Doctor of Divinity, born in Luxembourg, and died in Klagenfurt in 1644.

List of the bishops then archbishops of Strasbourg
Source

The patron

One also knows it for his collection of works of art, of which he had entrusted management to the Flemish great painter David Teniers the young person. With the title and the row of " ayuda of camara" , Teniers settled in Brussels after 1647 and spent of the immense sums to the acquisition of paintings. Fabrics exposed to Madrid, Munich, Vienna and Brussels make it possible to have an idea of what was the imperial residence at the time of Léopold, that one represents admiring some recent acquisition under the direction of Teniers. One of them, visible with Munich, represents Teniers working in a part of the palate, with an old peasant for model and various gentishommes for spectators.

When Léopold turned over to Vienna, it carried its paintings and it is the Flemish priest Van den Baren, itself excel painter of flowers, who became the guard of his collection. This one gathered mainly Dutch and Italian Masters, for example of Venetian of the 16th century. A good part of this collection came from auctions from noble English, whom the Puritanisme had driven out: Italian Masters, now exposed to Vienna, had even belonged to Charles I {{er}} of England and to the Duc of Buckingham. Cornelis De Bie affirmed in 1661 that Teniers had spent some time to London, gathering paintings for the duke of Fuensaldaña, then lieutenant de Léopold for the Spanish Netherlands.

Léopold bequeathed this collection to its nephew Léopold 1 {{er}}, so that it became imperial property and represents today an important part of Kunsthistorisches Museum (Museum of history of art or Museum of old art) of Vienna.

Set on music and spectacle like his brother Ferdinand III, it made come to Brussels the type-setter Johann Kaspar Kerll, as well as the Chorégraphe Balbi, which implemented the Ballet of the world and the opera Ulisse ale insulated di Circe , represented in 1650, then in 1655 for the visit of Christine of Sweden to Brussels.

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