Antonis Mor, Lot n° 449

IMAGE OF THE MARGARET OF PARMA Oil on oak wood. 14,7 x 20 cm. In an old, lavishly worked late Renaissance frame with flambeaux, silver applications and marble inlay in the burst gable field. In fine painting, in the bust shown slightly to the right, in front of a green-brown background. The face, slightly turned to the right, makes intensive eye contact with the observer, framed by wavily curled collars over a high black neck apron and black dress, on which the double strung pearl necklace and the sewn-on rosettes have their full effect. The brown hair, covered with a transparent veil, also covered with pearls. Margarethe of Parma (1522-1586) was the illegitimate daughter of Emperor Charles V and was first married in 1536 to the Duke of Florence Alessandro de'Medici and, after his murder, to Ottavio Farnese. Through her half-brother, the Spanish King Philip II, she was appointed governor of the Habsburg Netherlands in 1559. The present painting is based on a large-format portrait, c. 1562, of Antonis Mor, which shows her in identical dress. The present small panel painting, however, reduces the almost three-quarter portrait of the original to a head portrait. Accordingly, the light effect of white pearls, in contrast to the large version, has been reduced in colour here, while the lining slit in the sleeve dress has been discreetly inserted in strong red as a special detail that animates the picture. In accordance with the need at the time for repetitions of a first portrait for the ramified court, it can be assumed here too that the painting was probably made in the workshop under the supervision of the master. The high painting quality also speaks for this. A half-portrait of Elisabeth Farnese, Queen of Spain, also assigned to the Mor circle and auctioned at Christie's New York in 2000, was probably painted in a similar manner. Literature: María Teresa Álvarez, Margarita de Parma: la apasionante vida de la hija bast