A portrait of Archduke Albrecht VII, Governor of the Spanish Netherlands (1559–1621),
oil on canvas, 75 x 60 cm, framed

This is a lively portrait of the Archduke Albert VII of Austria, showing him as a young and powerful ruler, worlds apart from the slightly melancholic character depicted by Peter Paul Rubens in later years. Even though it is influenced by other portraits, the present painting appears to be an independent composition.

It is most closely related to a full-length portrait of the sitter by Frans Pourbus the Younger (Antwerp 1569–1622 Paris), painted around 1599–1600, now in the Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales in Madrid (oil on canvas, 226 x 131 cm, inv. no. 61221). There are, however, notably differences. In the present portrait, Albert is wearing full armour, whereas in the full-length, he is shown wearing only a breastplate. The breastplate in the Madrid portrait appears to be part of the same suit of armour which is shown here, with etched decorations that include a double headed crowned eagle referring to the power of the House of Habsburg. Apparently, the present painting is the only portrait showing the full armour of this type.

In a miniature in Houston, which is also related to the present painting and the full-length portrait in Madrid (oil on card, 79 × 64 mm, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Acc. No. BF.2013.3), the archduke is depicted in full armour like in the present painting, but in a different type. This other armour, decorated with grotesque allegorical emblems, is shown in numerous other workshop versions of the composition, like the portrait in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (oil on copper, 28 x 22.5 cm, Workshop of Frans Pourbus II, inv. no. SK-A_509). This parade armour is preserved at the Koninklijke Musea voor Kunst en Geschiedenis in Brussels. The armour in the present portrait is depicted in part in the Madrid portrait, and also - again only the breastplate - in a portrait by Otto van Veen (Portrait of Archduke Albert of Austria, oil on canvas, 119 x 98 cm, circa 1596, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), which is also close in physiognomy. Every loop of lace, golden curlicue and play of light across the Archduke’s armour is meticulously rendered. The characterisation of the Archduke’s face, his heavy-lidded and slightly weary eyes, full Hapsburg lips, flush of his cheeks and sheen across his nose all demonstrate an accomplished artist.

We are grateful to Sabine Craft-Giepmans for suggesting that the present painting is a work executed in the studio of the young court painter Frans Pourbus. Frans Pourbus the Younger, who was only twelve years old when his father died, became a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1591. In 1599 he was appointed court painter to the governors in Brussels. Only a short time later, Vincenzo I Gonzaga called him to Mantua as a court painter, where he collaborated with Peter Paul Rubens. The present painting appears to have been executed before 1600, when Pourbus departed for Mantua. This would also fit in with the stylistic development of the artist, whose style was still less international and refined in those days, whereas his later works were influenced by Rubens and other contemporaries. The present painting is therefore an excellent example of the workshop of an artist still less international than in his later courtly portraits. Another example of this early, slightly archaic style is the portrait of Prince Philip William of Orange (1554–1618) in a cuirass and with the Order of the Golden Fleece, sold at Dorotheum, Vienna, 21 April 2015 as lot 16.