Margaret of Austria’s portrait collection : female patronage in the light of dynastic ambitions and artistic quality
Dagmar Eichberger
Eichberger, Dagmar, "Margaret of Austria’s portrait collection : female patronage in the light of dynastic ambitions and artistic quality", dans Journal of the Society for Renaissance Studies , 10 (1996) , Nr. 2. p. 259-279.
Extrait de l’article
During her regency in Mechelen, the Archduchess Margaret of Austria (1480-1530), daughter of Emperor Maximilian, assembled a remarkable collection of artefacts. Paintings such as the Arnolfini Wedding bu Jan van Eyck, the set of panels by Juan des Flandes and Michel Sittow and the Double Portrait by the Master of Frankfurt can be counted among the highlights of her collection.While it was well known to her contemporaries that Margaret of Austria had one of the finest art collections in the Netherlands, many art historians have overlooked the significant role played by her as collector and patron of the arts. The unusually rich set of inventories and courtly accounts that still exist make it possible to reconstruct the nature and growth of Margaret’s collection from 1493 up to the time of her death in 1530. A preliminary analysis of these sources reveals that Margaret’s collection of art objects was particularly strong in two areas, religious art works and secular portraiture.