ab. 1636 Jacob Adriaensz Backer - Portrait of a Man

Got a sudden burst of inspiration and decided to redraw this post of somewhat historically accurate snow white , but now instead of the 1490s she's in the 1630s.

Dunno why this decade never occurred to me as it makes for some very interesting designs. I think my favorite one turned out to be her main outfit(center), really happy with how the colors turned out. I think her wedding dress ended up being way too busy but I still like it!

1639-1640 Johannes Cornelisz. Verspronck - Portrait of Andries Stilte

Portrait of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (1633-1654) in Hungarian costume and portrait of Archduchess Mariana of Austria (1634-1696) in Spanish costume

Who is this mysterious girl dressed in a contemporary Spanish dress, though somewhat outdated at the time of its creation? This portrait is now part of the collection of the Museu Sa Bassa Blanca, Fundación Yannick y Ben Jakober, in Alcúdia (oil on canvas, 129 x 89 cm, inv. 11). It is a pendant, one of two paintings hung together that present a similar or complementary subject. In portraiture, couples - husband and wife, mother and daughter, father and son, brother and sister - are generally depicted in opposing poses. Given its dimensions, style, subject matter, and the similarity of the costume, the portrait of the unknown princess is undoubtedly a pendant to a portrait in the collection of Ambras Castle (department of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, oil on canvas, 134 x 98 cm, inv. GG 8198), which is thought to depict Prince Sigismund Casimir Vasa (1640-1647), the only legitimate son of King Ladislaus IV Vasa (1595-1648) and his first wife, Queen Cecilia Renat of Austria (1611-1644). Therefore, it is believed that the portrait of the young girl represents an unknown sister of the young prince.

However, the Bavarian State Painting Collections hold two very similar portraits, clearly depicting the same siblings, but dressed in costumes more typical of late 1630s Western European fashion (oil on canvas, 118 x 91.5 cm, inv. 6773 and 6770). These paintings, from Neuburg Castle, represent Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (1633-1654) and his sister, Archduchess Mariana of Austria (1634-1696), children of Emperor Ferdinand III (1608-1657) and Mariana of Spain (1606-1646).

At a very young age, Ferdinand succeeded his father as Archduke of Austria. In 1646, he became King of Bohemia, sharing this title and that of Duke of Cieszyn with his father, Emperor Ferdinand III (he was crowned on August 5, 1646). He also shared with his father the title of King of Hungary and Croatia (his coronation took place on June 16, 1647). In 1646, Mariana was betrothed to her cousin Balthasar Charles (1629-1646), Prince of Asturias and heir to the Spanish throne. His death shortly afterward left her without a husband and her uncle, Philip IV of Spain (1605-1665), a widower, without an heir. The solution was Philip's marriage to his niece on October 7, 1649. These events explain why the children were depicted in Hungarian and Spanish costumes (their future roles were undoubtedly anticipated by their parents from a very young age). The emperor's son was depicted with a similar Hungarian hat and with a similar dog in 1634, at the age of one (portrait with his mother, Kunsthistorisches Museum, inv. GG 3113).

(1) Portrait of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria (1633-1654) in Hungarian costume, 1630s, Ambras Castle in Innsbruck, 

(2) Portrait of Archduchess Mariana of Austria (1634-1696) in Spanish costume, 1630s, Museu Sa Bassa Blanca, 

(3-4) Portrait of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and his sister Mariana of Austria, 1630s, Bavarian State Painting Collections,

(5-6) Portrait of a boy and a girl, most probably Ferdinand of Austria and his sister Mariana of Austria by Frans Luyckx, 1630s, Museo Nacional del Prado, 

(7) Detail of portrait of Maria Anna of Spain and her son Ferdinand, 1634, Kunsthistorisches Museum,  ​ (8) Portrait of Pál and Orsolya Esterházy, 1652, Forchtenstein Castle. 

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Identification of the sitters by Marcin Latka (Artinpl), 25.04.2019 ("Unknown Polish Princess?", published 12.09.2016).

Queen Henrietta Maria

1636