(Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain)
A painting by the Spanish artist Francisco Pradilla Ortiz (1848 – 1921). Joanna 'the Mad' of Castile (1479-15) was the daughter of king Ferdinand II of Aragon and queen Isabella I of Castile. Joanna married in 1496 with archduke Philip I the handsome, son of the holy Roman emperor Maximilian I of Habsburg. the marriage united the Habsburg crown with the Spanish crown: Philip was heir to the holy roman empire and Joanna became the heir presumptive to Aragon and Castile when her brother, elder sister and infant nephew died. Philip became king of Castile when Joanna's mother, queen Isabella I of Castile, died in 1504. Philip died in 1506 from typhoid fever, leaving Joanna grief stricken behind. Fearing the Habsburg origins of Philip, Ferdinand II was declared Joanna insane and imprisoned her. He ruled as regent over Castile until his death in 1516, when Joanna inherited his kingdom as well. From 1516, when her son Charles I ruled as king, she was nominally co-monarch but remained imprisoned until her death. Charles, better known as holy roman emperor Charles V of Habsburg, would unite all the Spanish and Habsburg lands: Castile, Aragon, the holy Roman empire and the Burgundian lands (parts of present-day Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as Luxembourg and parts of northern France). After the death of Joanna in 15 stories about her mental health quickly spread (although it is unclear if she really was mad). The painting shows 1 of those stories: that she refused to believe her husband was dead and took his coffin with her on her trips, hoping that he would be alive the following morning. Painting from 1877.
