POURBUS, Frans the Younger
(b. 1569, Antwerpen, d. 1622, Paris)

Portrait of Margherita Gonzaga

1604-05
Oil on canvas, 193 x 115 cm
Galleria Palatina (Palazzo Pitti), Florence

Vincenzo Gonzaga (1562-1612) was ruler of the Duchy of Mantua and the Duchy of Montferrat from 1587 to 1612. He took an interest in Flanders and visited the region frequently. In Brussels in 1599, Vincenzo met the painter Frans Pourbus the younger, a courtly and sophisticated portraitist in the service of the archduke Albrecht Habsburg. He convinced Pourbus to fill the vacant court portraitist position in Mantua.

A specialist in dynastic portraits was an absolute necessity in any princely court at that time. This artist was not only obliged to record the likenesses of the local ruler and his family, but he also had to exalt the political roles of his subjects by the use of sophisticated, emblematic details in the pictures. Flemish painters had for some time been recognized as the great masters of this genre, adept at acute observation and the painstaking recording of details. The application of these skills did not necessarily result in a perfectly accurate rendering of the face, but focused rather on an analytical description of beautifully embroidered clothing, lace collars, brilliant military medals, and the precious stones in the jewelry.

Pourbus made a number of these portraits in Mantua in 1604-05, including the full-length portrait of Margherita Gonzaga. In this portrait the serious and composed figure poses in a rich, luxurious setting.