Portrait of Isabella Clara Eugenia (1566-1633), Governess of Southern Netherlands, as a widow, three-quarter-length

This picture is an important discovery of one of the most renowned - and most reproduced - portraits in Rubens’s oeuvre. It shows Isabella Clara Eugenia, daughter of Philip II of Spain and Elisabeth of Valois. She married Albert, Archduke of Austria, in 1598, and the couple reigned as independent sovereigns of the Spanish Netherlands from 1599 until Albert’s death in 1621, when the territory reverted to the Spanish crown. On account of their childless marriage, Isabella ruled exclusively as governor on behalf of her nephew, Philip IV. In October 1621, she joined the Third Order of St Francis and as a sign of mourning following her husband’s death, she wore the habit of the Poor Clares, as in this portrait. This became her official state portrait for the remainder of her life.

Rubens had been appointed court painter by Isabella and Albert in September 1609, and maintained a close rapport with the Infanta until her death in 1633. Isabella visited Antwerp in 1625, following the capture of Breda in June, a triumphant trip that was well documented by a number of contemporary sources. During this visit, Rubens is known to have painted her portrait and designed a related engraving (fig. 1), where Isabella is shown precisely as she is here: in three-quarter-length pose, holding her long black veil in her hands while she gazes at the viewer, against a neutral background with an aura, likely symbolising Divine Providence, surrounding her head. It is possible that she sat for the portrait during a recorded visit to Rubens’ house on 10 July 1625. The making of the portrait and the engraving are recounted by writers of the time, including Philippe Chifflet and Hermanus Hugo. Chifflet wrote: ‘1625. Rubens peignit l’Infante à Anvers avec una coronne civique sur laquelle M. Gevart fit les vers qui sont dans sa lettre’; while Hugo related: ‘While Isabella was in Antwerp she was painted by the brush of the eminent artist Rubens and engraved in copper by his etching needle, and saw herself adorned with a civic crown in this truly noble picture. After this glorious triumph [the capture of Breda] she deserved to be depicted thus, and by no other hand than that of the famed Apelles; [in the margin] ‘The famous portrait of the victorious Isabella, painted by Rubens’ (H. Hugo, Obsidio Bredana, Antwerp, 1626, p. 125).

The present, hitherto unpublished, canvas has emerged, after restoration treatment, as one of the most compelling known portraits of this type. There are a number of clear pentiments that are now visible, notably the adjustment of the black veil on her (proper) left, and the repositioning of the fingers on her right hand. Rubens’s typically confident, spontaneous brushwork creates a sense of true volume in the drapery and the modelling of the face lends sharp characterisation to the sitter’s features. Hans Vlieghe discussed the versions previously known in his Corpus volume, including one formerly in the collection of Lord Aldenham, which despite not showing the aura around her head was believed by Burchard to be autograph and the best of the then known versions; this view was however rejected by Vlieghe. Another canvas in the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena was also given to Rubens by Burchard, an opinion only accepted ‘with much reserve’ by Vlieghe. Interestingly, the Norton Simon picture is smaller than the present lot (116 x 89.5 cm.), as are all of the three further copies listed in the Corpus, each of similar dimensions (116 x 96 cm.; 115 x 85 cm.; 116 x 92 cm.) (H. Vlieghe, Rubens Portraits of Identified Sitters in Antwerp, Corpus Rubenianum, Ludwig Burchard, XIX, London and New York, 1987, pp. 119-123, nos. 109-112, figs. 128-131).

Such was the success of the portrait that van Dyck based his full-length of the Infanta, made circa 1628 (fig. 2; Turin, Galleria Sabauda) very closely on Rubens’s composition. Van Dyck’s portrait was equally acclaimed: he received from the Infanta a gold chain valued at 750 guilders following its completion. As with Rubens’s canvas, a number of repetitions and copies are known, including a full-length version now in the collection of the Prince of Liechtenstein, that may be identical with the portrait for which van Dyck was paid £25 on 8 August 1632, and three-quarter-length versions formerly in the collections of King Louis XIV of France and Archduke Leopold Wilhelm in Vienna (see S.J. Barnes, N. De Poorter, O. Millar and H. Vey, Van Dyck: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings, New Haven and London, 2004, p. 319, under no. III.90). Another picture from the studio of van Dyck also recently came to light, formerly in the collection of King Louis-Philippe d’Orléans at Château d’Eu (sold Christie’s, New York, 1 May 2019, lot 245).

This lot was formerly in the collection of James Jewett Stillman (1850-1918), the founder of one of America’s great banking families, the chairman of National City Bank, which later became Citibank. He forged great links with the Rockefellers, with both of his daughters marrying members of the latter family.

We are grateful to Ben van Beneden and Katlijne Van der Stighelen for both endorsing an attribution to Sir Peter Paul Rubens and his studio.