Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, Archduchess of Austria (1566-1633)
Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (Madrid 1554 – Madrid 1608)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1595 - 1596
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1220 x 980 mm
Place of origin
Spain
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486250
Caption
The Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia was the elder daughter of Philip II of Spain (1527-1598) and Elizabeth de Valois. She and her husband, the Archduke Albert of Austria became joint sovereigns of the Seventeen Provinces. On his death, she became sole Governor of the Netherlands. She was painted by a succession of illustrious artists, but it is not clear why this one should have been given to, or acquired by, the 10th Earl of Northumberland except that it is known it was owned by King Charles I who may have given it to the Earl. He may simply have regarded it as a fine example of a certain kind of portraiture. Pantoja de la Cruz painted a similar portrait of the Infanta three or four years later (Alte Pinakothek, Munich). Surprisingly, her face looks very different. This may be because it and the pendant of her husband were painted in 1599, after their departure for Flanders, and that the artist may have had to work from an informal sketch or from memory.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, Archduchess of Austria (1566-1633) by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (Madrid 1554 – Madrid 1608), circa 1595/6. A three-quarter-length portrait, standing, three-quarters left; she is wearing a large double ruff, with a scarlet and silver dress and ruffles of dark yellow lace (couleur d'Isobelle). Her hair is chestnut, dressed in a point with a large jewel and little rosettes. Her right hand rests on a clock with a marmoset beneath it against a green curtain background.
Provenance
Originally owned by King Charles I (1600-1649). It is probably the picture recorded by Abraham van der Doort at Whitehall, as a ‘Mantua peece’ in the Tennis Court Chamber: ‘Item the late deceased Infant Archdutchess – Issabella her picture (pijntit opan de lijeht bing) halfe a figure Soe bigg as the life in a wodden frame’ [Oliver Millar (ed.), ‘Abraham van der Doort’s Catalogue of the Collections of Charles I’, The Walpole Society. Vol.XXXVII, 1958-60, 1960, p.1, no.4] It is nowhere to be found in the records of the Commonwealth sales, 1649-51 (The Walpole Society, vol.XLIII, 1970-72, 1972), so must have been given by Charles I to the 10th Earl of Northumberland (1602-1668) – hence its not having been surrendered at the Restoration and recorded at Northumberland House on 30 June 1671 and at Petworth in 1799; thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by HM Treasury.
Credit line
Petworth House, The Egremont Collection (acquired in lieu of tax by HM Treasury in 1956 and subsequently transferred to the National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Verso: According to a note by Holder, who lined the picture in 1833, the crown and cipher of Charles I was stamped on the original canvas: on the lining canvas is a copy of the monogram CR beneath a crown, and beside it EH 1833.
Makers and roles
Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (Madrid 1554 – Madrid 1608), artist
References
Remastered - Bosch to Bellotto: An Exhibition of Petworth's European Old Masters (exh cat) (Andrew Loukes) Petworth House, West Sussex, 9 January - 6 March 2016, cat. 21