Catalogue Roberti Fine Art, TEFAF Maastricht 2026 (1) compressed - Flipbook - Page 108
As the favourite daughter of King Philip II of Spain and Elizabeth of Valois, the Infanta Isabella Clara
Eugenia emerged as one of the most formidable and respected female rulers of the seventeenth
century. Serving initially as the joint sovereign of the Spanish Netherlands alongside her husband,
Archduke Albert VII, she played a pivotal role overseeing a period of relative stability and cultural
flowering to the war-torn Low Countries. Her diplomatic acumen was instrumental in securing the
Twelve Years' Truce, a vital reprieve during the protracted Eighty Years' War, and she acted as a
critical bridge between the Spanish Habsburg crown and its northern territories. A renowned
patron of the arts, Isabella fostered the careers of masters such as Peter Paul Rubens and Jan
Brueghel the Elder, and used portraiture to great effect to project both her authority and her deep
religious devotion. Following her husband's death in 1621, she transitioned into the role of
Governor-Regent, joining the Secular Franciscan Order and trading her royal finery for a simple
nun’s habit for the remainder of her life, as immortalised by Rubens in his portrait (fig. 1).
Fig. 2. Attributed to Alonso Sánchez Coello, Portraits of four members
of the Spanish Hariaza family. oil on cardboard, each 4.2 x 6 cm.
Musée du Louvre, Paris. © Musée du Louvre
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