Lot Essay
The original by Rubens (140 x 101.5cm.), dated to 1617-1618, is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. This posthumous portrait portrays the sitter as the Prince Consort of Maria of Burgundy. The colors of Burgundy (red, green and white) are shown in the turban-like band on the helmut.
Maximilian I (b. 1459), son of the Emperor Frederick III and Eleanora of Portugal, married Maria of Burgundy in 1477 and later Bianca Maria Sforza in 1594. He became Emperor in 1493, and died in 1519 at Wels. In the present portrait the armor is incised with the Cross of St. Andrew and the Order of the Golden Fleece, and the skirt with the coats-of-arms of the Burgundian, Flemish and Austrian ruling familes
Maximilian I (b. 1459), son of the Emperor Frederick III and Eleanora of Portugal, married Maria of Burgundy in 1477 and later Bianca Maria Sforza in 1594. He became Emperor in 1493, and died in 1519 at Wels. In the present portrait the armor is incised with the Cross of St. Andrew and the Order of the Golden Fleece, and the skirt with the coats-of-arms of the Burgundian, Flemish and Austrian ruling familes