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Margaret of Austria, Queen of Spain

Andrés López Polanco (Spanish, active 1608, died 1641)

c. 1610

Medium: Oil on canvas
Classification: Painting
Dimensions: 210.6 × 109.3 cm (82 7/8 × 43 in.); Framed: 230.6 × 138.5 × 13.4 cm (90 3/4 × 54 1/2 × 5 1/4 in.)
Culture: Spain
Museum: Art Institute of Chicago, Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Credit line: Gift of Mrs. Sydney Gorham and Mrs. Walter Kohler, Jr.;Mrs. James Conger, Eugene McVoy in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene McVoy
Rights: Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it: Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed

About this work

Margaret of Austria, wife of King Philip III of Spain, stands resplendently dressed, her royal authority conveyed through the portrait’s formality as well as her sumptuous attire. She is bedecked with jewels: Her brocade skirt is held closed with decorative clasps called puntas; large pearls and gemstones adorn her chest, waist, and arms. The rigidity and painstaking detail of portraits of the Spanish royal family were traditional for paintings that were frequently copied to serve as diplomatic gifts. This painting is a copy of a portrait of the queen by the official court painter Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (Museo del Prado, Madrid).