Portrait of Philip the Handsome (1478-1506), Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy

Entry

This portrait, which was probably painted around 1500, is of the Archduke of Austria and Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Handsome. He is shown facing to the right in a three-quarter pose that includes his shoulders and upper torso. He gestures rhetorically with his right hand, while his left hand appears to rest on the edge of the frame. Philip is wearing a black jerkin over a finely pleated white shirt with a smockwork edge. His brocade gown has a lining of brown fur. The pendant of the Order of the Golden Fleece is suspended from a collar around his neck, and pinned to his black cap is a gold medallion showing two angels crowning the Virgin Mary.²

As the son of Maximilian I and Mary of Burgundy, Philip’s birth on 22 June 1478 betokened a powerful political union between the Habsburg dynasty and the Netherlands. Upon his mother’s death in 1482, the four-year-old Philip inherited the title of Duke of Burgundy but did not take over as active regent until 1494. In 1496 he married Joan the Mad, heiress to the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. He spent the following years battling with his father-in-law over his right to rule as King of Spain, a title he finally attained in late June 1506, only to die on 25 September of that year.³

A number of similar portraits depicting Philip in a three-quarter pose and gesturing with one hand are also known, most of which have been dated between the very end of the 15th and the beginning of the 16th century.⁴ Philip’s identity as the sitter in these images is confirmed through comparison with his portrait on the left wing of the ‘Zierikzee triptych’ painted by the Master of the Joseph Sequence between 1505 and 1506.⁵ Although several versions appear to be fairly distant copies, the general affinity between the extant portraits points to an official likeness of the young ruler.⁶ Closest to the present portrait is a painting in Windsor Castle, which is one of the best surviving versions of the composition.⁷ Another example preserved in Brussels is also comparable.⁸

The present version, together with the Windsor Castle and Brussels portraits, was first attributed to Philip the Handsome’s court painter Jacob van Laethem, who is also sometimes identified as the Master of the Joseph Sequence.⁹ All three were subsequently associated with the Master of the Legend of Mary Magdalen.¹⁰ There is no clear indication, however, that he or his workshop ever produced portraits of Philip the Handsome, and recent examination of the panels of the Magdalen Legend in the Staatliche Museum in Schwerin (after which the master is named) failed to reveal any stylistic affinities with the extant portraits of the young regent.¹¹ In the most current analysis of the Brussels panel, Pieter van Coninxloo (active 1479-1513), Philip the Handsome’s other court painter, has been proposed as a more logical possibility than the Master of the Legend of Mary Magdalen, due to his documented work as a portraitist for the Burgundian court. Yet no surviving record confirms that Van Coninxloo was ever commissioned to paint the official likeness of his employer, and uncertainties about Van Coninxloo’s own oeuvre complicate attribution on stylistic grounds.¹²
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