16^th – 17^th Century. Spanish

Juan Pantoja de la Cruz was one of the most important artists during the reign of Phillip III of Spain (1598-1621).

Born in Valladolid, at a very early age he moved to Madrid, where he trained at the studio of Alonso Sánchez Coello (1531/32-1588). On Sánchez Coello’s death in 1588, he became the main portrait painter of the court during the final years of the reign of Philip II and the opening years of Philip III’s, and was appointed Court Painter in 1596.

In fact, our definitive image of the court portrait is indebted to Pantoja de la Cruz, who followed the full-body and three-quarters models introduced to Spain by Anthonis Mor (ca. 1516-1576). One of the most outstanding features of Juan Pantoja de la Cruz’s portraits is the hieratic pose of the characters, whose rigid and aloof expression excludes any manifestation of feeling. Worth mentioning is the utmost detail paid in depicting the embellishment of the clothing, the jewellery and other accoutrements of royalty, thus continuing the Mannerist way of depicting power. This refinement in the representation of certain elements brings to mind the preciosity of Flemish artists. However, the precise depiction of the characters’ facial features and the painstaking treatment of the clothing contrasts with the simplicity of the backgrounds: the settings in which Pantoja de la Cruz represents the symbolic elements of royalty are practically devoid of any kind of descriptive elements.

Though best known as a portrait painter, Pantoja de la Cruz also undertook other subject matters, including religious themes. Particularly relevant within his production, the artist’s religious paintings combined forms from Tuscan Mannerism with details heralding Naturalism. And so he merged the detailed depiction of objects with a monumental conception of the treatment of light and the human figure. These works generally responded to commissions from the main ecclesiastic authorities in Madrid and Valladolid. Two specific works from 1603 stand out among those religious commissions, representing the birth of the Virgin Mary and of Christ, and were created to decorate the queen’s private chapel in the Royal Palace in Valladolid. Both works currently belong to the collections of the Prado.