THE GOLDEN YEARS OF SPANISH FASHION

In 1591-1598 the artists Leone Leoni and Pompeo Leoni scultpted the group of statues of the royal family for the tomb of Carlos V. Most of these were after the passing of the people the figures represent. However their dress appears to have been taken from well known earlier portraits. Isabella de Valois is also in the group, however the close up of her is on her own page

Alonzo Sanchez Coello is responsable for a good number of portraits we have of Spanish women of the late 16thC. Most are of women we still know the names of, especially the women of the royal family. He did however paint some charming portraits of other women, though their names may now be lost to us. In the full sized image of the young girl, you will note the charming flower shapes of her jewellery. Also the final portrait compares well to portraits of Juana of Austria.

These portraits I have placed directly under the Sanchez-Coello images as they share a feature in common to the first image: red undersleeves. They can also be seen in a portrait of Isabel de Valois by Sofonisba Anguissola (a copy and the original).

Sofonisba Anguissola also painted portraits of Spanish ladies, and her portraits of Isabella de Valois can be seen on her own page. The self portrait here is too strongly Spanish in feeling to put in another page showing the spread of the Spanish style. There are other portraits by her in that section however. The young girl in the red dress is represented as being Spanish in a few sources, yet it feels extremely Italian in style to me. The pleats of the skirt and the shape of the hanging sleeves in particular. It remains here however until evidence proving my feeling becomes available.

The red of the dress was what first drew me further into the museum site that hosts the portrait of the girl, but it was not the first time I had seen a shade of red (actually it was more purply-pink in the virtual tour.) This portrait was sold at Southbies, and it's been a fun site to hunt around for more images.

This portrait of Catherine of Austria shows similar hair arrangements to that of Maria of Austria. It appears to be a Portugese style, further study of the lives of these women and portraits of around the 1550s will help clear this up.

This is a double portrait of Filipe II's two wives. As there are two women, it will have been painted after the death of at least one woman. 1583, Anonymous, The Hispanic Society of America.

The folowing portrait is difficult to attribute, as it is part of a site in a language I cannot easily decifer.

Due to internet history problems I do not know where this image came from.

This portrait is by Pantoja de la Cruz who seems to have been a lter painter. This gown however appears to be well before 1600.

The following are quite probably not Spanish, but remain here until I can find evidence one way or the other. The first image has a fine black white and gold fabric that looks like a much smaller patterned fabric similar to that seen in Eleanora di Toledo's gown and other portraits/extant pieces.



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