Portrait of Archduke Rudolph II, Holy Roman Emperor, as a boy, bust-length

We are grateful to Ms. Maria Kusche for confirming the attribution of lots 108 and 109 to Alonso Sánchez Coello based on trasparencies (written communication, 25 July 2007). Judging by the apparent age of the sitters she believes the present paintings must slightly predate the artist's full length portrait of Rudolph II (1552-1612) at the age of 16 and the pendant of his brother Ernst (1553-1595) at the age of 15, signed and dated 1567, two existing versions that hang today in the Museo Enrique Larreta, Buenos Aires, and at Hampton Court. As Ms. Kusche observes, the dress in the present portraits is unlike that in the full-length portraits, indicating that, when the artist rendered the present bust-length portraits, he was still indecisive about the dress of the final full-length renditions.

The Archdukes Rudolph and Ernst were the eldest sons of Emperor Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor and Queen Maria of Austria, and nephews to King Phillip II of Spain. The brothers had traveled to Madrid in 1564 to be educated at court. Commissioned by Phillip II, Sánchez Coello painted the full-length portraits of the future Holy Roman Emperor and his brother expressly for the Gallery of Royal Portraits in the Palace of El Pardo which burned down in 1604.

A similar portrait in size and pose to the present lots depicting Archduke Wenceslaus, younger brother of Rudolph and Ernst, was sold at Sotheby's, London, 8 December 2005, lot 290 (£90,000=$155,700) and is now hanging in the Musée des Beaux Arts, Bordeaux.