Claudia de’Medici? (1604–1648), Princess of Tuscany (Justus Sustermans) - Nationalmuseum - 15886

Description in Flemish paintings C. 1600-C. 1800 III, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2010, cat.no. 201:
Technical notes: The support consists of a single
piece of medium densely woven plain weave fabric, probably
linen. The tacking edges are present along the right
and left sides of the painting while the top has probably
been trimmed to some extent. The painting is mounted
on a stretcher. There is faintly visible cusping on the
back of the painting. The ground has a greyish-blue tone
and has been applied thickly and evenly so that it covers
the texture of the canvas. There is no visible imprimatura.
The preparatory layers consist of light grey under-
face. The paint layer is opaque, covers the painting completely
and is applied impasto, particularly in the pearls
and individual details in the gown. There is a non-original
inscription in the upper left of the picture. Three
minor repairs have been made of holes/tears. There is
visible overpainting along the lower edge of the painting
from right to left. Partial retouches have been made in
the background, face, collar and dog. The hands have
been enhanced at some later date. The painting underwent
conservation treatment in 1901, 1921 and 1980.
Provenance: Rudolf II’s Kunstkammer, Prague (?);
Gripsholm after 1795; Grispholm 1831.
Bibliography: Granberg, p. 114; Cat. Gripsholm (Portrait
collection) I, 1951, p. 170.
This portrait probably depicts Claudia de’Medici,
Princess of Tuscany, who was married to Duke Frans
Ubaldo of Urbino by her first marriage and to the
Archduke Leopold of Austria by her second. The subject
is portrayed full-length, facing half left with a fan
in her hand. She has brown eyes, dark-brown hair in
which there is a golden ornament with black gems, a
necklace round her throat and a pearl-trimmed collar
of tulle trimmed with lace. Her gown has a rich pattern
of black against a yellow ground and there are
zigzag and floral decorations on the skirt. On each
wrist she is wearing tulle cuffs decorated with pearls
and around her throat a large necklace with two rows
of pearls that extends down to her waist. A small
brown and white lapdog is standing at her feet to the
right. In the background we can see a pedestal and
above it dark, brownish red drapery.
The two-dimensionality of this portrait and the
emphasis on the decorative details of the garments is
characteristic of the portrait ideals of the late 16th and
early 17th centuries. The effect of this style of portrait
is to render the subjects as symbols of their gender,
social rank and status rather than as physical beings
with bodies, minds and personalities. The subject of
this portrait has been posed stiffly like a heraldic figure
gazing aloofly at the viewer in a setting that only
implies the palace interior that alludes to her social
position. This is also indicated by the magnificent
gown, the jewellery and fan, as well as the tiny lapdog,
which may here be an expression of marital fidelity.
This portrait was probably seized by Swedish troops
during the sack of Rudolf II’s Kunstkammer in Prague
in 1648. It may later have been concealed behind a reference
to a portrait of “Claudia Florentina” in an
inventory of the royal household dating from 1661.1
A portrait that is reminiscent of this one in the
Gripsholm collection and painted by Sustermans can
be found in Poggio a Caiano.2 On stylistic and technical
grounds, however, the Gripsholm portrait does not
seem to have been painted by Sustermans but by a successor
or a painter working in Sustermans’ studio.
This is shown by the variations in the technical quality
of the portrait, in which the face is rendered with
greater virtuosity than the subject’s garments and the
background.
KS
1 See the Gripsholm inventory for Grh 1216, and the note on the existence
of a portrait of this kind in the inventory of the royal household for 1661.

2 Gazette des Beaux-Arts 1911, tome I, p. 491. [End] Svenska: Se även beskrivning i den engelska versionen