They reveal Maximiliano’s voice through his little-known role as a cartoonist

Many books have been written around the figure of Maximilian of Habsburg (1832-1867) from different approaches, both biographical and historical novels. Although the investigations were carried out in the personal archive of the Archduke of Austria, none of them took into account his role as a draftsman, until Aurelio de los Reyes García-Rojas did so in his search for the “voice” and what it had to say about the ill-fated Emperor of Mexico. His drawings, in the end, “speak a lot about him.”

The “discovery” of the researcher from the Institute of Aesthetic Research (IIE), of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, is evident in the imposing book Maximilian and his diary of 1863: The construction of an emperor seen by a Mexican (IIE-Seminario de Cultura Mexicana, 2025), illustrated by the monarch.

Many things have been said about Maximilian of Habsburg, epithets that have remained in the popular imagination, such as that he was a bad administrator, inept at governing, or that he and his wife, Carlota, dreamed of a great empire; In short, a very negative vision, points out the author. Then, “I decided to find out what Maximiliano says. We have never heard his voice.” Listen to him not only through his diaries, but also through his correspondence with his family, his mother, his brother, Francisco José, and Carlota herself.

De los Reyes García-Rojas warns that “it is certainly not a completely sincere voice, so to speak, because there are many circumstances that he himself censored. He does not talk, for example, about his sentimental problems, his relationship with Carlota, his sexuality; then, there are a whole series of nuances that he hides. In any case, it is his voice.”

From the nobleman’s point of view, the researcher begins to build a more positive image. For example, “it is said that he was deceived, that he came to Mexico without knowing anything. On the contrary, he prepared himself from the beginning. He informed himself, he interviewed people, he had a good bibliography on Mexico. Then it is said that on the way from Europe to Mexico he spent his time writing a book of protocols, as if nothing else had done that. But no: I found that he had 24 government projects. He had a very clear idea of the country he was going to and the series of measures he wanted to implement to govern it. It is also said that he deceived the conservatives. No, from the beginning he said: ‘my government will be based on liberal principles.’ I emphasize this quite a bit throughout the text.”

Between Trieste and Vienna

The personal archive of the deposed monarch is divided into two parts, one in Trieste and the other in Vienna, his hometown. In Vienna, “I found his diaries. I was particularly interested in the one from 1863 because it was the year before his arrival in Mexico, to find out what he thought of the country.” However, Maximilian’s first diary is from 1844, when he was 11 and a half years old; there he already draws. Apparently he did not do it self-taught: “perhaps he made the drawings with the advice of his teacher. It is seen that he gradually perfected the drawing of the lines.”

On the cover of the book a very elaborate self-portrait of the archduke taken at the age of 13 is reproduced. On the right side, in the foreground, the teenager is sitting at a desk. He appears to be reading, although he could also be asleep. In any case, “both sleep and reading raise fantasies.” A vision comes that can be seen, in the background, behind him: a landscape that alludes to a broad transportation system consisting of a steamboat, rowed boats, a train, a cart, horses and people walking.

Regarding the composition of the drawing, De los Reyes García-Rojas highlights the vanishing point that “does not stop at the adolescent, but rather the view is directed towards the top, to Charlemagne, the figure at the top. Then, you see the vaults of the Cathedral of San Marcos, it seems to me, the bell tower of Venice, and many other elements. A whole series of fantasies, but everything is very well integrated.” Apparently Maximilian liked to travel, something evident in his travel diaries to places like Egypt and Spain.

Three youth diaries are preserved from the sovereign; They are the ones he draws on the most. When referring to a trip to the Middle East, he already uses color. “The other diaries are not preserved in full, unfortunately. For example, there is not the one from 1861, nor the one from 1862, which he would have wanted to publish because that is when the negotiations for his coming to Mexico were being made. I think that in some way the imperial family intervened in the archive and stole documentation, because not all the experience in Lombardy is there either – he was governor of Lombardy-Veneto between 1857 and 1859 -, when he had many conflicts with his older brother, Francisco José. There is also no correspondence regarding his assets, his domestic finances.”

De los Reyes García-Rojas worked almost two decades on the writing of the book: “for 15 years I visited the Vienna archive annually; even during the writing period, which lasted five years, to resolve doubts and so on.” He clarifies that at that time he did not dedicate himself exclusively to this book.

Tomorrow there will be a discussion about the book Maximilian and his diary of 1863: The construction of an emperor seen by a Mexican at 6:30 p.m. at the Center for the Study of History of Mexico/Carlos Slim Foundation (Plaza Federico Gamboa 1A, Chimalistac neighborhood).