FISCHHOF Georg (1859-1914). - Lot 423

FISCHHOF Georg (1859-1914). Portrait of Prince Auguste-Léopold de Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha in naval officer's uniform. Oil on canvas signed lower right and dated 1908, preserved in a modern carved and gilded wood frame. Good condition, minor damage to frame. Sight: H.: 145 cm - W.: 88 cm. History: Prince Auguste-Léopold de Saxe-Cobourg et Gotha (1867- 1922), a member of the Imperial House of Brazil, by his mother, Princess Leopoldine (1847-1871), daughter of Emperor Peter II, and by his father, Prince Auguste de Saxe-Cobourg-Gotha (1845-1907), grandson of Princess Clémentine d'Orléans. When his mother died when he was just 3, Emperor Peter II took him under his wing in Brazil. At the time, the emperor's eldest daughter, Princess Isabelle of Brazil, had no children, and Leopoldine's eldest sons, Pedro and August Leopold, were considered heirs presumptive to the throne. August Leopold entered the Naval Academy (1882-1886) and served in the Imperial Brazilian Navy. On November 15, 1889, August Leopold was on board the Almirante Barroso when a coup d'état ended the monarchy in Brazil. After the death of his grandfather Emperor Peter II in 1891, August Leopold moved to Vienna, where, with special permission from Emperor Franz Joseph, he joined the Austrian navy. August Leopold was considered heir to the Brazilian throne by Brazilian monarchists, and was received on several occasions by European royal families, including Queen Victoria. On May 30, 1894, August Leopold married Archduchess Caroline Marie, daughter of Archduke Carl Salvator and Princess Maria Immaculata de Bourbon- Deux-Siciles, sister of Maria Immaculata de Bourbon- Deux-Siciles. Deux-Siciles, sister of Maria Pia Bourbon-Deux-Siciles, whose daughter Maria Louise Bourbon-Parme married Clementine's son, Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria in 1893. August Leopold and Caroline Marie had eight children. The entire family moved to the Palais Cobourg in Vienna. Prince August Leopold died in 1922, aged 54. He is buried in the crypt of the Augustinian Church in Coburg.