Lot 4096

Leonard Joel, 8th August 2000, Lot 247
Private Collection, Melbourne

Baroness Maria Vetsera (19 March 1871 - 30 January 1889) was an Austrian noblewoman and 17-year-old mistress of Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria. Rudolf, who was married to Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, was the only son of Emperor Franz Joseph and Empress Elisabeth, and heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary.

Vetsera is known for being part of the tragic royal murder-suicide proposed by Rudolf at an Imperial hunting lodge in Mayerling on 30th January 1889, known as the Mayerling incident.

Vetsera seemingly perceived the plans as a union in death of star-crossed lovers, writing: "If I could give him my life, I should be glad to do it, for what does life mean for me?" The Austrian National Library obtained copies of Vetsera's farewell letters to her family in 2015 which had been found in a bank safe deposit box where they had been placed in 1926.

Rudolf's death left Franz Joseph without a direct male heir and after the death of Franz-Joseph's younger brother, Archduke Karl Ludwig in 1896 from typhoid, the next heir was his eldest son, Archduke Franz Ferdinand who was assassinated in 1914; an event that precipitated World War I.

The aftermath of the Mayerling incident left much controversy and mystery, taking years of research and forensic examination to uncover the truth of what happened at Mayerling to Maria Vetsera and Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria.