Emanuel Silva-Tarouca

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Emanuel Silva-Tarouca

Emanuel Teles da Silva , Count of Silva-Tarouca (born September 17, 1691 in Lisbon , Portugal , † March 8, 1771 in Vienna ) was the court architect in Vienna and advisor to Maria Theresa .

He was the son of the Portuguese ambassador at the time of Charles VI, who died in Vienna . His full name is Silva de Meneses e Castro , in contemporary spelling Tellez da Sylva de Meneses et Castro . In Vienna he took over his father's title of count in his name and was called Silva-Tarouca . This form of name passed on to his descendants.

Life

He fought against the Turks in the imperial army in 1716/17, and around 1720 came to the Viennese court. He won the trust of Emperor Charles VI, who entrusted him with his daughter Maria Theresa for training in state-political matters.

From 1740 he was President of the Dutch Council, from 1744 to 1749 he held the post of court building director.

Under circumstances that were not entirely clear, he rose to become the gray eminence of Maria Theresa's government, without his post ever having been officially defined. At the beginning of her reign he even worked out a detailed timetable for her so that the young ruler would not devote too much to pleasure.

In 1740 she let him know that it was one of his tasks to constantly say where she was missing, to explore the shortcomings of her character and to communicate them openly to her . He became her closest confidante at court and Maria Theresa held consultations with him every day. Regarding the ruler's reforms, Austria probably owes him more than is known from the sparse data in his biography.

Although the chief steward, Prince Khevenhüller-Metsch , wrote about him that he was l'ami de l'Impératrice (the empress's friend), he was always discreet about his close relationship with the ruler.

Silva-Tarouca did not keep a diary of his interviews and did not write any memoirs. His letters, which have been preserved in various archives, are an essential source of information about himself.

In Vienna he owned the later Palais Archduke Albrecht , the seat of today's Albertina . He had the palace rebuilt from 1742 to 1745. He also owned land on Penzinger Strasse, on which he had the Palais Cumberland built in 1745 . In 1768 he acquired the rule of Čechy pod Kosířem in Moravia and set it up as a family entourage.

family

He was with Johanna Amalie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck (* December 3, 1719, † October 30, 1774) the daughter of General Friedrich Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck . The couple had the following children:

  • Maria Theresia Teles (* December 30, 1741; † unknown) ∞ Franz Joseph von Wurmbrand-Stuppach (* April 4, 1737; † February 12, 1806)
  • Franz Stephan (January 30, 1750; † March 5, 1797) ∞ Countess Maria Christina Gabrielle von Schönborn-Heussenstamm (* September 20, 1754; † August 25, 1797)

literature

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Silva-Tarouca, Emanuel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Silva-Tarouca, Emanuel Graf; Silva, Emanuel Teles da; Silva de Meneses e Castro, Emanuel Teles da; Sylva de Meneses et Castro, Emanuel Tellez da
BRIEF DESCRIPTION political advisor to Maria Theresa and Baroque architect
DATE OF BIRTH 17th September 1691
PLACE OF BIRTH Lisbon
DATE OF DEATH March 8, 1771
Place of death Vienna