Ferdinand von Harrach

By birth, he was a member of the Austrian noble Harrach family, which had been established in Bohemia since the beginning of the 14th century.

Ferdinand Friedrich Wilhelm August Anna was born as the only son of Count Karl Philipp von Harrach zu Rohrau und Thannhausen (1795–1878), originally from Prague, who was engaged in agricultural pursuits in Upper Silesia by his first wife, Countess Theresia Sedlnitzky von Choltic (1810–1834).

In pursuit of that goal, he studied the natural sciences and law at Humboldt University; as well as receiving practical training on his father's estates, while he continued to draw and paint in his free time.

His father eventually relented, and agreed to seek the opinion of a third party; showing his works to Stanislaus von Kalckreuth, a Professor at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

When the Professor commented very favorably, he was allowed to enroll at the Kunstakademie where, at the age of twenty-six, he was much older than most of his fellow students.

During the Franco-Prussian War, he was given the position of orderly officer on the staff of Crown Prince (later Kaiser) Frederick III, and was involved in drafting designs for the new Imperial German Coat-of-Arms.