Abstract
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.