Journey to a painting: 'Isabella de Valois holding a portrait of Felipe II', by Sofonisba Anguissola
To nothing that you look at it well, a classic painting tells what it wants to tell, but also many other things that it surely did not want. This is the case of this portrait of Isabel de Valois, third wife of Felipe II of Spain , made by the painter Sofonisba Anguissola.
Much has already been said Anguissola, from a family of Cremonese nobility , she took painting classes like several of her sisters, but she was by far the one who showed the most aptitudes, to the point of almost becoming professional painter . And we say almost because, no matter how rich her talent was, and no matter how much admired its fruits, she did not conceive then that a woman from the nobility had any professional activity . Neither is the artist. So if she moved to Spain to enter the court of Philip II , she officially went like Lady of Queen Elizabeth of Valois first, and as tutor to her daughters later.
What does not prevent she in Madrid she gave painting classes to the queen . And that she meanwhile made some of her best paintings, some exquisite courtly portraits, many of which had been attributed until recently to other painters of the same environment as Sanchez Coello or Pantoja de la Cruz . Of 'The Lady with an Ermine' by El Greco We'll talk another day.
The painting that concerns us, without going any further, has been Sanchez Coello until a few years ago. And, as we pointed out at the beginning, two narrative planes coexist in it: the first corresponds to what she wants to tell , and the second to what she doesn't want but counts anyway.
Journey to a painting: 'Isabel de Valois holding a portrait of Philip II', by Sofonisba Anguissola Journey to a painting: 'Isabel de Valois holding a portrait of Philip II', by Sofonisba Anguissola
The first: for his bearing, clothing and dressing , the queen shows hers all the majesty what is expected of her. However, their her gesture is relaxed and almost close , well she smiles slightly the viewer and the painter, from what can be deduced certain trusts . Or something else. Anguissola was the only one to achieve that impossible balance between humanity and majestic solemnity : it takes a lot of insight and a lot of psychology (we don't even talk about technique anymore) for that. In addition, Isabel holds in her hand a tiny portrait of her husband, Philip II . These types of miniatures were very common at that time of images, when people of a certain lineage were accompanied by the effigies of their spouses on trips and excursions.
It is believed that this could allude to Isabel's participation in the Bayonne Conference of 1565 , a meeting between the governments of Spain and France to resolve the issues of Christianity that affected both nations. Catherine de' Medici, Regent of France , she was her mother, despite which the meeting ended without any agreement. Basically, Isabel fulfilled the instructions received from her in the country of her adoption by demanding a strong hand against heretics, while Catherine did not renounce the relative French tolerance towards Protestantism (The massacre of Huguenots on the night of Saint Bartholomew would not trigger it until seven years later).
The tiny portrait of her husband, Felipe II
And now the second: as the architect once pointed out to me Andres Check , the way the queen holds the portrait of her husband suggests that she is holding a slice of lemon , and that at any time he's going to squeeze it over the afternoon tea . There is something irremediably ridiculous in that Philip little one, little one , supported by a jeweled hand which in turn rests on the podium of a column. Even more ridiculous is that that other Felipe -the same one in reality- who painted Titian offering the infant Don Fernando to heaven in the presence of an angel doing a handstand in the air and a Turkish man with a bushy mustache and scant clothing. Which is saying, frankly.
We propose an exercise to be carried out in front of a reproduction of Anguissola's painting. Fix your gaze on Felipe's portrait. Now on Isabel's face. Now back to Felipe. And back to Elizabeth. Philip. Isabel. Philip. Isabel. Philip!
Don't tell us you didn't laugh.
'Isabel de Valois holding a portrait of Philip II' (1561-1565), by Sofonisba Anguissola, is in the Prado Museum, Madrid.
'Philip II offering the infant Don Fernando to heaven', Titian