SCHOOL OF MADRID, 17TH CENTURY | Portrait of Infanta Maria of Austria (1606–46)

José Gallart Folch (1894–1979), Barcelona;
Thence by family descent.  

The canvas is lined, the paint surface is relatively clean and the varnish relatively discoloured. There are a handful of discoloured retouchings to minor damages, in the background above her head upper centre, in her proper right sleeve, to the edge of her left cuff, in the vertical embroidery of her dress centre and lower centre, and a large area in the lower left corner. There are a couple of pin prick losses in the left of her dress below her sleeve. Inspection under ultraviolet light confirms all these, and also reveals fine lines of retouching in her hands and face to reduce the appearance of craquelure, with a more concentrated area in her chin, and further lines scattered in her costume (most notably her ruff). In overall good condition. Offered in a parcel gilt and painted Spanish frame in good condition.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This full-length portrait of the Infanta Maria, the future queen of Hungary and Bohemia, daughter of Philip III and Margarita of Austria and sister to Philip IV, is likely to have been painted in the 1620s by a close follower of Juan van der Hamen. The pose of the Infanta, and the composition as a whole, is closely related to several full length portraits of members of the royal family tentatively given to Van der Hamen (1596–1631) by William B. Jordan.¹ 1 See W.B. Jordan, Juan van der Hamen Y León & the court of Madrid, exh. cat., New Haven and London 2005, pp. 218-223, figs. 40-43.