Joseph II (1741–1790), Emperor of Austria

D'Argent worked as an enamelist and engraver, first in Stuttgart, his birthplace, and later in Paris and elsewhere in Germany.

The signature on this enamel's reverse was not discovered until the miniature was unframed for the preparation of the 1996 catalogue of The Met’s collection of European miniatures. It had previously been described as a portrait of the duke of Cumberland by Christian Friedrich Zincke and subsequently as the portrait of an officer in the style of André Rouquet (1701–1758). Comparison with engraved portraits by Anton Tischler (1721–1780) and miniatures by Heinrich Friedrich Füger confirms that the present work depicts Joseph II (see also the sale catalogue with miniatures from the Robert D. Brewster collection, Sotheby's, Geneva, November 15, 1995, nos. 269 and 270, ill. in color). The sitter wears the red ribbon and badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece and the badge of the Order of Saint Stephen. It may date to about 1780.

Leo R. Schidlof (The Miniature in Europe, Graz, 1964, vol. 1, p. 47) records an enamel by d'Argent of Joseph II in the Lenoir sale, Paris, 1874, but there is no evidence that it was this work.

[2016; adapted from Reynolds and Baetjer 1996]

Inscription: Signed (reverse, in brown on blue enamel): A: L: d'Argent. / pxt:

Moses Lazarus, New York (until d. 1885); his daughters, Josephine and Sarah Lazarus, New York (1885–1888/95)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Eighteenth-Century Woman," December 12, 1981–September 5, 1982, unnumbered cat. (p. 60, as "Portrait of an Officer").

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 111.

Graham Reynolds with the assistance of Katharine Baetjer. European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, pp. 9, 14, 124, no. 111, colorpl. 111 and ill. p. 124, tentatively date it about 1780.