Portret van Franz Conrad von Stadion und Thannhausen 1754

Georg Daniel Heumann produced this print of Franz Conrad von Stadion und Thannhausen sometime in the mid-18th century. At the time of this portrait, von Stadion was Bishop of Lavant, a position he held until his death. The print thus gives us an insight into the visual trappings of high office within the Holy Roman Empire. We see a man secure in his authority, surrounded by the emblems of his power, including his coat of arms, his mitre, and his throne. But it is also interesting to note what is absent here: the trappings of traditional aristocratic power such as weapons or military uniforms. The print speaks less to a sense of individual authority, than it does to the power of the institutions of the church. To understand the image better we might look more closely at the history of the bishopric in Lavant or at similar representations of religious power in the period.