LUYCKX, Frans
(b. 1604, Antwerpen, d. 1668, Wien)

Portrait of Empress Maria of Austria

c. 1635
Oil on canvas, 215 x 147 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

Frans Luyckx settled permanently in Vienna and painted here portraits of the Habsburgs, basing his compositions on those of Velázquez.

Archduchess Maria of Austria (1528-1603) was Holy Roman Empress and queen consort of Bohemia and Hungary as the spouse of Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Bohemia and Hungary. She served as regent of Spain in the absence of her father Emperor Charles V from 1548 until 1551, and in the absence of her brother Philip II, from 1558 to 1561.