Portrait of Isabella of Portugal (van Eyck)

Portrait of Isabella of Portugal was a betrothal painting^[1] by the early Netherlandish artist Jan van Eyck that was one of his earliest known works,^[2] but is now lost and known only from copies. It dates from his 1428-29 visit to Portugal on behalf of Philip the Good, when he was sent as part of an embassy to evaluate the then 30-year-old Isabella's suitability as a bride for Philip.

Van Eyck was tasked by Philip the Good with bringing back two (most likely a pair were painted to increase the probability that one would make it back to the Netherlands) faithful representations of her likeness for the duke to evaluate.^[3]

Because Portugal was riddled with plague, their court was itinerant and the Dutch party met them at the out-of-the-way castle of Aviz. Van Eyck spent nine months there, returning successfully to the Netherlands with Isabella as a bride-to-be; the couple married on Christmas Day of 1429.^[4]

The portrait was executed as the preliminary marriage agreement was drawn up, and would have been sent to Philip along with the document of agreement. In this, it was intended as eyewitness testimony to the "person of the princess", providing independent verification of her identity when she later travelled to Philip in Burgundy.^[5]

Description

Portrait of Isabella of Portugal^[6] is especially notable for the forward way in which she places her hand over the faux stone parapet. With this gesture Isabella extends her presence out of the pictorial space and into that of the viewer.^[7] This illusionistic motif was later developed in his London Léal Souvenir, where the subject's arm rests on the painting's lower left frame as if the subject had just suddenly and informally arrived to the sitting and casually positioned herself. This conceit was later and most famously emulated by Petrus Christus's Portrait of a Carthusian's which placed a fly perched on the faux center lower border of his canvas. Van Eyck had already gone further than this, however, and has, in this portrait, created a number of illusionistic perspectives.

From surviving copies, it can be deduced that apart from the actual oak frame, there were two other 'painted on' frames, one of which was lettered with inscription the top, while a faux stone parapet provided support for her hands to rest upon.^[7]

Van Eyck painted a second portrait during his visit to Portugal, his 1428 Portrait of a Man with a Blue Chaperon. Art historians tend to look to this work to deduce how the Isabella portrait may have looked. The Blue Hood painting is rendered in a miniaturist scale, presumably so as to make it easier to ship back to Bruges, so it is reasonable to assume the future Queen's portrait was of much the same scale.

Although the original is today known only from a few copies, van Eyck was a renowned and widely copied artist at the time, and its probable influence can be seen in paintings of the queen by Rogier van der Weyden, as well as in a mid-15th century depiction of her by an unknown northern artist; although both works show Isabella at a much older age.^[8]

v t e Jan van Eyck
List of works
Portraits	Portrait of a Man with a Blue Chaperon c. 1430 Léal Souvenir (1432) Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati (1432) Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?) (1433) Arnolfini Portrait (1434) Portrait of Baudouin de Lannoy c. 1435 Portrait of Jan de Leeuw (1436) Portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini c. 1438 Portrait of Margaret van Eyck (1439)
Single religious works	Annunciation (Madrid) c. 1432–1434 Saint Francis Receiving the Stigmata c. 1432–1440 Annunciation (Washington) c. 1434–1436 Madonna of Chancellor Rolin (1435) Lucca Madonna (1436) Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele (1436) Madonna in the Church c. 1438–1440 Madonna at the Fountain (1439) Madonna of Jan Vos (1441–1443)
Polyptychs	Ghent Altarpiece (with Hubert van Eyck, completed 1432) Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych c. 1430–1440 Dresden Triptych c. 1437
Illuminated manuscripts	Turin–Milan Hours ("Hand G", c. 1420)
Drawings	Saint Barbara (1437) Study for Cardinal Niccolò Albergati c. 1432 Study for a Crucifixion c. 1440
Lost	Portrait of Isabella of Portugal c. 1428–29 Saint Christopher c. 1460 Woman Bathing c. 1434 Vera Icon (Head of Christ) (before 1438) Madonna of Nicolas van Maelbeke (after 1440)
Contested	The Three Marys at the Tomb c. 1420s The Fountain of Life c. 1432 Portrait of a Man with Carnation (1435)
Workshop	Crucifixion c. 1430–1432 Ince Hall Madonna (after 1434) Christ on the Cross with the Virgin and Saint John c. 1435 Saint Jerome in His Study (1442)
Related	Hubert van Eyck (brother) Early Netherlandish painting

Portrait of Isabella of Portugal (van Eyck)

Description

References

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