(Siegen 1577–1640 Antwerp)
Portraits of Archduke Albrecht and Archduchess Isabella Clara Eugenia of Austria,
oil on canvas, each 123 x 91 cm, framed, a pair (2)

Provenance:
Collection Cogels, Antwerp;
sale, Campo, Antwerp, 13 December 1960, lots 118a and 118b;
Collection Mrs. Boudry, Antwerp;
Private collection, Belgium

Literature:
A.-C. Hosten, Les Portraits des Archiducs Albert et Isabelle par Pierre Paul Rubens, in: Brabant, September 1978, pp. 5/6 (as Cornelis de Vos, retouched by Rubens);
Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, ed. by Hans Vlieghe, XIX, vol. 2, 1987, p. 40, no. 64, 3 and p. 41, no. 65, 3 (as anonymous, after Rubens)

In 1609, the Archduke Albrecht of Austria, governor of the Spanish Netherlands, and his wife, the Spanish infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, appointed Peter Paul Rubens as their court painter. In September that year, Rubens painted two official portraits of the two sovereigns, showing the couple in splendid costumes against red backdrops. This type of portrait has come down to us in numerous versions, one of which is now preserved in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (see H. Vlieghe, Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, vol. 19–22, New York 1987, pp. 45/46, cat. nos. 68/69). That Rubens made a second series of portraits in order to produce more current likenesses of the two governors is attested to by a letter from Jan Brueghel the Elder, who was then collaborating with Rubens on the important series of the Five Senses (today in the Museo del Prado, Madrid).

Scholars believe that the second portrait session resulted in the two canvasses now in the Prado, depicting the couple against the backdrops of the Palaces of Mariemont and Tervuren. Although the rural residences as backgrounds lend the Madrid portraits a similarly official character as in the earlier type, the archducal couple gives a much more intimate and relaxed impression. This somewhat informal flair, at least in comparison to the earlier type, can also be seen in the present pair, which, like some other workshop repetitions, is based on the Madrid collaborative portraits by Rubens and Jan Brueghel the Elder. Further versions of the pair, including the present paintings, were painted in Rubens’s lifetime in the master’s workshop, whose primary task it was to disseminate the images of the sovereigns in a literal sense and thus promote the state’s official iconography. The prototype for this group is documented by a variant of the Prado portraits. It appears in a smaller format and as a single painting showing the archducal couple in an identical pose on a cabinet behind Venus or Juno in Jan Brueghel’s and Rubens’s Allegory of Sight in Madrid. This proves the existence of the type as early as 1617, the year in which the Allegory is dated. In addition to the present pair of paintings, further workshop replicas are preserved at the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk (Virginia) and in the collection of the Earls Spencer in Althorp. Archduke Albrecht was born the fifth son to Emperor Maximilian II and the Infanta Maria of Spain. He grew up at the Spanish court and pursued an ecclesiastical career at an early age. In 1577 he became archbishop of Toledo and in 1580 the Pope appointed him cardinal. Between 1583 and 1595 he was the viceroy of Portugal and then he became governor of the Spanish Netherlands. When he was engaged to the Spanish Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia in 1598, the Pope released Albrecht from his duties towards the church. Isabella, a daughter of King Philip II of Spain and thus a granddaughter of Emperor Charles V, brought the Spanish Netherlands with her as a dowry under the condition that they would have to be returned to Spain after Albrecht’s and Isabella’s deaths. The couple resided in Brussels from 1599 onwards. The Archduke died there in 1621, and his widow continued to officiate as regent until her own death. Both were considered important promoters of the arts and sciences, earning particular merit in this respect as patrons of Peter Paul Rubens.

We are grateful to Hans Vlieghe for confirming the attribution to the Workshop of Peter Paul Rubens on the basis of high-resolution photographs.