Alonso Sanchez Coello, Portrait of Juana of Austria, 1557, Schloss Ambras, Innsbruck
© Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
I am presently completing a book which will assess, for the first time, the artistic, cultural
and political role the youngest daughter of Emperor Charles V, Juana of
Austria, played at the court of Philip II of Spain. As princess of Portugal, and
later regent of Spain
(from 1554 to 1559), Juana wielded both power and influence within her
brother’s family and his political circles. Contemporaries admired her and paid
tribute to her strength of character and capacity for government.
A comprehensive study of Juana’s accomplishments in the arts has
never been undertaken. Scholars have paid little attention to the contributions
she made at Philip II’s court as an arbiter of taste and fashion, and have also
tended to overlook her influential intervention in artistic matters. On the
other hand, her engagement with contemporary music, dance and theatrical
performances - she mastered several musical instruments - has been given some
scrutiny.[1] Juana’s patronage of
leading artists, architects and musicians at the Spanish court rivalled that of
Philip II. She was a trend-setter, charting new paths, and her state portrait
by Sofonisba Anguissola (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston) is the first instance of a Habsburg princess
commissioning a painting by a female painter.[2] Well-versed in Greek, Latin
and Portuguese literature, Juana was also devoted to doctrine and religion. Her
library was packed with religious tracts, treatises, books and musical scores.
She filled her household with painters, goldsmiths, singers and musicians: a
testimony of her various talents and multi-faceted interests.
In 1555 Juana founded the
Descalzas Reales Convent in Madrid,
an aristocratic nunnery for ladies of imperial and royal blood, which she
envisioned as a powerful spiritual center in Spain,[3] and where royal apartments
were built for herself and her select female court. The Descalzas Reales, and the
women close to Juana’a circle, evolved into the feminine counterpart of Philip
II’s male court, where her sumptuous and extensive collection of Flemish tapestries, court
portraits, jewelry, luxury goods, relics, animals and exotica from overseas
colonies and Portuguese Asia was housed and displayed. The Descalzas convent,
in the heart of Madrid,
has been preserved, in an almost unaltered state, with its rich decoration and
artistic treasures. Juana's patronage (within and without the Descalzas convent), and a
reconstruction of her collection and objets
d'art (some of which are still extant in the Descalzas Reales) will be
undertaken in this forthcoming book.
My intent is not only a historical biography, although biographical
and historical information will be provided where necessary in the introductory
chapter and notes. Rather, this book is conceived of also as a
handbook (in English) for scholars and students, in Iberia and elsewhere, interested in
court studies and women’s studies, Habsburg patronage and the arts of
Renaissance Spain. Ten years of archival research in Spain, Portugal and Austria has
lead to the discovery of a number of unpublished letters, accounts and
documents, as well as five unpublished inventories of Juana’s collection,
dating from 1553 to 1574. These documents (in Spanish) will be transcribed in full
with annotated notes and cross-references (in English), and should provide scholars
with a unique insight into the court, collection and patronage of this
forgotten princess. The opportunity to publish this rich material in one book,
for the first time, will provide new perspectives and insights on patronage and
collecting in Renaissance Spain in the mid-sixteenth century.
My approach is to provide an in-depth introductory chapter which
will focus on Juana as patron and collector in the context of her life as
princess of Portugal
and regent of Spain
(1554-1559). The subsequent chapters are transcriptions of her inventories,
covering a period of almost 20 years. These detailed inventories provide much
information about Juana’s collecting in many areas, from jewelry and dress to
portraits, sculpture and architecture. The transcribed inventories are fully
annotated with detailed notes. The latter will provide students and scholars
with pertinent historical and art historical information. The Appendix will include
additional accounts, letters and documents that support material presented both
in the introductory chapter(s) and in the inventory transcriptions. As the
emphasis here is upon a compilation of documents, I shall include a large number of illustrations in the text, as this is not an “art book” in the traditional
sense, rather a “text” study of Juana’s collection and collecting
practices.
[1] Jaime
Moll, “La Princesa Juana de Austria y la música,” Anuario Musical, 19, 1964, pp. 119-122; J. Moll, “Libros de música
e instrumentos musicales de la Princesa Juana de Austria,” Anuario Musical, 20, 1965, pp. 11-23.
[2] Annemarie
Jordan, “Los Retratos de Juana de Austria posteriores a 1554: La
imagen de una princesa de Portugal,
una Regente de España y una jesuita,”
Reales Sitios, no. 151, 2002, pp. 42-65.
[3] Eleonor
H. Goodman, Royal Piety: Faith, Religious
Politics, and the Experience of Art at the Convent of the Descalzas Reales in
Madrid, Ph. D dissertation, Institute of Fine Arts, New York University,
New York, 2001.
[4] Annemarie Jordan, “Las dos águilas del emperador Carlos V.
Las colecciones y el mecenazgo de Juana e María de Austria en la corte de Felipe II,” La Monarquía de Felipe II a debate,
coord. Luis Ribot García, Madrid, 2000, pp. 429-472, and A. Jordan, “Mujeres
mecenas de la casa de Austria y la infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia,” El arte en la corte de los Arquiduques
Alberto de Austria e Isabel Clara Eugenia (1598-1633). Un reino imaginado, Madrid, 1999, pp.
118-137.
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