Portrait of Isabella Clara Eugenia

After Frans Pourbus II (1569–1622)

Ca 1600–1615. Oil on wood

In 1599, Isabella Clara Eugenia, the daughter of Philip II of Spain, and Archduke Albert, a representative of the Austrian lineage of the Hapsburgs, were married, and became governors of the Spanish Netherlands. Upon this occasion, Frans Pourbus II painted full-length portraits of the couple in Brussels. These portraits served as prototypes for numerous busts, several of which have survived. The handwriting of young Pourbus is recognisable in a few of these paintings, which were most probably made by the artist himself or by his studio shortly after the completion of the full-length portraits. Most copies, however, were made after the printed version of the painting and outside the studio of Pourbus. In 1600, the well-known copper engraver Johannes Wierix from Antwerp printed busts engraved after Pourbus’s portraits of the couple; these served as official models for depicting the archduke and archduchess for the next 15 years. The portrait of Isabella Clara Eugenia at the Kadriorg Art Museum was also painted after Wierix’s engraving.