Jornadas Arte, Poder y Género

 

Miguel Falomir: María de Hungría y Tiziano

Aunque en 1533 Carlos V ennobleció Tiziano y le concedió la exclusividad de su retrato, la decisión respondió más a una estrategia de imagen que a un interés del soberano por el arte del pintor. Prueba de ello es que, en los 15 años siguientes, Carlos sólo pidió a su Apeles particular un retrato póstumo de su esposa. 1548 marcó un punto de inflexión en la relación entre Tiziano y la corte, y la importancia de María de Hungría en tal cambio fue decisiva. En mi intervención analizaré la relación que se entabló entre María y el pintor, su amplitud de registros y su sofisticación, que hacen de ella una de las más interés trabada entre un artista y un patrono en el Renacimiento europeo.

Camilla Cavicchi: Marie of Hungary as Music Patron

The music had a relevant position in the courtly life of Mary of Hungary, in the Coudenberg palace in Brussels and in her residences in Binche and Mariemont. She had at her services a personal chapel with a consistent number of singers –which was quite unique for a woman of power in those years – and a little number of excellent instrumentalists. The inventory of her musical instruments – which were moved from Brussels to Spain in 1555 – reveals that in Brussels she had a remarkable collection and leads us think that the instrument players at her service were more numerous than those attested in the archival records. This paper will pinpoint the international relevance of her musical patronage and will shed new light on the significance of her collection of instruments, by comparing it with some Italian examples.

Krista de Jonge: Mary of Hungary, Connoisseur of Architecture. Mid-Sixteenth Century Court Architecture in the Low Countries Revisited

Mary of Hungary's fame as a patron of architecture extended well beyond the Low Countries, thanks to her ‘palace' at Binche and especially her hunting pavilion at Mariemont, but her less well known interventions in the residence complex and gardens at Brussels, the chief residence of the itinerant Habsburg court in the Low Countries, are equally significant, as is her profound knowledge of contemporary architectural theory and her hands-on experience with military construction. We will interpret these achievements in the light of Mary's multiple identities: as a humanist-trained patron of the arts and lover of antique architecture; as a Habsburg princess whose chief cultural frame of reference is the myth of Burgundy; and as a female regent bound by imperial politics.

The ‘palace in the guise of a castle' at Mariemont with its newly created hunting forest and terraced gardens not only referred to iconic ‘Burgundian' precedents such as the Brussels palace and its private hunting forest of Soignes, but also to the enchanted castle of chivalric romance. The organization of the main apartment at Binche, its décor, and its carefully stage-managed ceremonial routes confirm the building was conceived from the very beginning as an imperial residence, the timing of its construction coinciding with crucial events in Charles V's reign. These complementary residences from the start were meant to receive the Emperor, their situation in Hainaut near the crucial border with Valois France ensuring an imperial visit – and also turning them into targets for a direct attack by the French army in 1554.

Mary of Hungary's architecture, the creation of court artist Jacques Du Broeucq, and especially her garden architecture signaled a fundamental change in the architectural taste of the court. In turn they served as models for the new vanguard, influencing profoundly the early realizations of King Philip II of Spain.

Dagmar Eichberger: Like Aunt like Niece? Tracing Margaret of Austria's collection through Mary of Hungary's possessions.

This paper will investigate the complex relationship between Margaret of Austria's collection in Mechelen and Mary of Hungary's personal belongings as they are documented in the surviving inventories. Mary inherited many of her aunt's books and also took over some of the collectible items that Charles V left behind. In addition, she was largely responsible for the Habsburg collection of tapestries and acted as go-between for commissioning new sets of tapestries for her family. The dynastic portrait collection that Mary displayed in her Brussels residence was built on Margaret's foundations (Jordan 1999). To which degree can we regard the women of the house of Austria to be the custodians of Habsburg culture and identity?

Many of the inherited objects remained in Mary's palace in Turnhout. After she gave up her position of governess general, Mary moved to Spain in September 1556. Which objects did she decide to take with her, which ones did she leave behind?

Of equal interest is the tendency to employ court artists who had served under Margaret of Austria: Bernard van Orley, Jan Vermeyen, Marc de Glaessere, Coecke van Aelst and Robert Peril. Was this a common pattern that reflects the mechanics of artistic networks at the court or does this situation say something about her preferences in art? As we know, Mary of Hungary was very fond of early Netherlandish paintings which she actively acquired on several occasions. Whom did she sponsor when it came to contemporary art?

Annemarie Jordan: All in the Family: Portraits and Portraitists at Mary of Hungary's Brussels Court

Early into her regency of the Netherlands (between 1533 and 1537), Mary of Hungary renovated sections of the Brussels Coudenberg palace to accommodate a new apartment for herself with an adjoining long gallery, the Galerie des Empereurs. This rectangular hall was a space reserved for banquets and dining, and built as a response to François I's gallery at Fontainebleau. Designed as a public reception room, Mary earmarked this space to display her dynastic portrait gallery.

Mary's patronage and collecting centered on the accumulation of family portraits, a taste she acquired from her aunt, the former regent Margaret of Austria, from whom she had inherited many portraits. Mary systematically began collecting portraits of her Habsburg relatives with the Brussels gallery in mind. She commissioned works by the leading portraitists of her time, especially Titian and Anthonis Mor, who became a leading painter at her court. Mary's portrait collection restructured between 1548 and 1553, was hung with a precise concept and program.

By 1556 Mary owned no less than forty-five portraits of her immediate family: nineteen by Titian and his studio, nine by Mor and the remainder by Jakob Seisenegger, Guillaume Scrots, Jan Vermeyen, the Portuguese Francisco de Holanda and Lucas Cranach. The Brussels hall was created to project a specific political message, reflecting Mary's cult of her brother Emperor Charles V, as pater familias. This dynastic hall also mirrored Mary's social world, confirming her ties with relatives and political adversaries at the courts of Austria, England, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Poland and Spain, at the same time, showcasing her accomplishments as regent and distinguished patron.

These highly charged portraits were commissioned to reflect the imperial, dynastic and political ideologies cultivated by the Habsburgs in the sixteenth century. This paper will look at portraits once owned by Mary (through her inventories), reconstruct her Brussels gallery and focus on the leading portraitists she patronized.

Mia J. Rodriguez Salgado: Los Festivales de Corte como parte de las estrategias políticas, dinásticas y personales de Carlos V

El hecho de que este congreso se dedique al patronazgo artístico de María de Hungría y no al de ‘su mejor hermano y señor', Carlos V, sugiere una relativa pasividad por parte del emperador en cuanto a la organización de festivales en la Corte y respecto a comisiones de todo tipo de arte.  No sería así en el caso de su abuelo y tutor, el emperador Maximiliano. Por lo cual en esta ponencia comenzaremos con unos comentarios sobre la actitud de Carlos V a los Festivales de Corte y Patronazgo artístico, y hasta que punto podemos atribuirle la iniciativa en estas materias.  Luego, siguiendo las pautas propuestas por los organizadores, indagaremos cómo se sirvió Carlos V de los festivales de Corte.  Finalmente analizaremos por qué dejó tanta iniciativa a ‘su mejor hermana y Gobernadora de los Países Bajos', María de Hungría.

Concha Herrero Carretero: Reinas, tutoras y mecenas. La impronta femenina en la colección de tapices de la Corona de España

Esta ponencia se centra en las últimas contribuciones sobre la historiografía y el estado de la cuestión respecto a la génesis de la colección real de tapices. Se ofrece una síntesis de la impronta en ella del mecenazgo femenino, el perfil humanista de Isabel I (1451-1504), Juana de Castilla (1479-1555), Margarita de Austria (1480-1530), Isabel de Portugal (1503-1539) y, en particular, de María de Austria, reina de Hungría y gobernadora de los Países Bajos (1505-1558).

Se incide en la relevancia de los inventarios y las obras conservadas, reflejo y testimonio de la formación, carácter y personalidad de estas mujeres; se valora el preciso engranaje y procedimiento desarrollado en sus adquisiciones, compras y legados; se destaca la contribución y colaboración de sus servidores y allegados; y se resalta el trascendental uso de los tapices en el ceremonial cortesano y su despliegue en las residencias reales, entre las que sobresalen, el alcázar de Segovia, el palacio de Tordesillas, el de Malinas, el de Bruselas, el alcázar de Madrid y el palacio de Binche.