Konstanze von Habsburg, Archduchess of Central Austria, Later Queen of Poland

1604

In this formal portrait, Archduchess Konstanze von Habsburg wears an elaborate costume and lavish jewels, attesting to her status as a member of one of seventeenth-century Europe’s most powerful families. The column on the left may reflect the imperial authority behind her station, while the monkey seated at her side indicates an aristocratic taste for exotic pets. This painting is possibly a second version of a work that the itinerant court painter Joseph Heintz originally made for the Austrian Habsburgs in 1603–1604. As a part of this commission, Heintz created an additional series of portraits to be sent to the Spanish branch of the family in Madrid. This practice was common among European royalty, serving to emphasize alliances and lineage.

Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	72 5/16 x 41 7/16 in. (183.6 x 105.2 cm) Frame: 80 15/16 × 50 × 2 1/4 in. (205.6 × 127 × 5.7 cm)
Object Number	1982.127
Acquisition	Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Julius S. Held, 1982
Status	Off View

Image Caption

Joseph Heintz the Elder, Konstanze von Habsburg, Archduchess of Central Austria, Later Queen of Poland, 1604, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, gift of Mr and Mrs Julius S Held, 1982.127

Select Bibliography

Williams College Museum of Art. Hot Dry Men, Cold Wet Women: The Theory of Humors and Depictions of Men and Women in Western European Art of the 1600s. Exhibition brochure. Williamstown, MA: Williams College Museum of Art, 1993. Zimmer, Jürgen. "Joseph Heintz der Alterer Neue Ergebnisse zum Werk des Malers." Alte und Moderne Kunst 24, no. 163 (1979): 9–13. Anonymous. "Chronique des Arts: Principales Acquisitions des Musées 1983." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 103, no, 1382 (March 1984): supplement, pp. 1–54. Kaufmann, Thomas Dacosta. L'école de Prague: La peinture à la cour de Rodolphe II. Ecoles et mouvements de la peinture. Paris: Flammarion, 1985. Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984. Kaufmann, Thomas Dacosta. The School of Prague: Painting at the Court of Rudolf II. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988. Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992. Gaehtgens, Thomas W. and Nicole Hochner. L'image du roi de François I à Loius XIV. Passagen 10. Paris: Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l'homme, 2006.

Zimmer, Jürgen. Joseph Heintz er Ältere, Zeichnungen und Dokumente. Berlin: Deutscher Kunstverlag, 1988.

Zimmer, Jürgen. Joseph Heintz der Ältere als Maler. ***Anton H. Konrad, 1971.

Provenance

(Sale, Sotheby’s, Parke-Bernet, London, 17 Dec. 1969, no. 78, as School of Daniel Mytens, sold to Held); Julius Held (d. 2002), given to the Clark; Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1982.