Bildnis der Fürstin Franziska von Kaunitz-Rietberg, geb. Ungnad, Gräfin von Weißenwolff (1773–1859)

The portrait of Princess Franziska von Kaunitz-Rietberg from 1805, now of unknown location, is one of Kauffmann's final portraits, painted two years before her death in 1807. The Kaunitz family — one of the great Austrian aristocratic houses — had been prominent in Habsburg politics since the 18th century, when Chancellor Kaunitz had engineered the Diplomatic Revolution of 1756 that briefly made France and Austria allies. The portrait of this Austrian noblewoman reflects Kauffmann's continued engagement with the European elite in her final years, maintaining in Rome the international clientele she had built over half a century of practice across London, Italy, and Austria. By 1805 she was seventy-four years old and had survived the French Revolutionary upheaval that had scattered many of her patrons and transformed the social world in which her career had flourished. Her refined handling — soft modeling, cool clear colors, graceful elongated figures — was maintained into this final period, creating portraits of consistent quality that showed little diminishment from the work of her most productive years. The portrait of Princess Kaunitz stands as evidence of the sustained artistic achievement of one of the most remarkable careers in 18th-century European art.

The late portrait shows Kauffmann's refined handling maintained into her final period, with soft modeling and elegant composition that characterize her mature portrait style.