|
Margaret of Austria, daughter of Emperor Maximilian I, was betrothed at the age of three to the infant Charles VIII of France. She is shown here at age ten, one year before she was repudiated by her intended husband. The elaborate pendant of a pelican piercing its breast to feed its young (its blood represented by the large hanging ruby), a symbol of Christian charity, alludes to the sitter's piety. The portrait was the left wing of a diptych; the right wing is now lost.
|
