Michael Sittow: Portrait of Isabella I of Castile (1490)

(Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain)

A painting by the Estonian artist Michael Sittow (1469-1525). The lady on this piece is Isabella I of Castile ( 1451 - 1504), Queen of Castile and León, and the wife of Ferdinand II of Aragon, king of Castile, León and Aragon. Isabella was the daughter of king John II of Castile and his second wife, Isabella of Portugal. Isabella married with Ferdinand in 1469 and after the death of the half-brother is Isabella (king Henry IV of Castile) and the death of the father of Ferdinand (king John II of Aragon), the couple became king and queen of Castile, León and Aragon. The marriage and the personal union of the crowns of the powerful Spanish kingdoms Aragon and Castile laid the basis of the unification of Spain under one royal house. Besides the personal union of Castile and León the most important historical event during the reign of the couple is the completion of the Reconquista of Spain. Isabelle herself is best known for her support and financing of the 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus which led to the opening of the New World and the establishment of Spain as a global power. Sittow shows the queen immersed in her thoughts regarding the passage she has just read in her book of hours which she just read. She is shown in a silk brocade gown and a jeweled pendant that was given to her by her father. The he arrangement of Isabella suggests that the portrait probably formed part of a diptych. Painting from 1490.