Juana of Austria: Habsburg Princess, Regent of Spain and a Jesuit

 

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.  

   

 

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[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.