Leopold Joseph von Daun (18th Century)

Active as a field commander in the War of the Polish Succession (1733-38) and the Turkish Wars, Leopold Joseph von Daun (1705-66) went on to win a number of important military victories for Habsburg ruler Maria Theresa in the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-48). Later, in the Seven Years War (1756-63), he proved one of Frederick II’s greatest adversaries, defeating the Prussian king at Kolin (1757) and Hochkirch (1758). After being wounded in battle against the Prussians at Torgau in 1760, Daun assumed administrative duties, continuing his project of reforming and reorganizing the imperial army. Upon his death, Maria Theresa ordered the erection of a funeral monument in his honor in the Augustinian church in Vienna. The monument was designed by Balthasar Ferdinand Moll (1717-85), the famous Baroque sculptor who also sculpted the double sarcophagus of the empress and her husband, Francis Stephan of Lorraine (Francis I), in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna. Painting by unknown artist, eighteenth century.

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