Eleanora Ferdinandi II Uxor [Eleanora Wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor]

Book Description

Haarlem: Published by Pieter Soutman, circa 1644. Mixed method, engraving and etching. Printed on fine laid paper with a watermark of a sun. In excellent condition. Image size: 15 ¾ x 10 5/8 inches. 16 3/16 x 11 1/8 inches. 20 1/2 x 15 inches. A stunning portrait of Eleanora comes from a series of portraits of the Hapsburg royals published by Pieter Soutman. This finely engraved portrait is from a suite of engravings published by Pieter Claesz. Soutman. Executed by some of the most noted seventeenth century engravers, the suite is a lavish series of portraits of the Hapsburg dynasty. A prolific engraver and publisher, Soutman began his career as a painter in Ruben's studio. In 1628 he returned to Haarlem and founded his own workshop, which was responsible for training some of the most celebrated printmakers in Holland. One can not help but note that Eleanora's name has been added before her husband's as an afterthought in the title, squeezed in as it were: the original title having read "Ferdinandi II Uxor" : Ferdinand II's wife. She was Eleonore Gonzaga (1598-1655), and Ferdinand's second wife. They were married in the midst of what later be called the Thirty Years War, in which Ferdinand was deeply involved and which he would not survive. She was nevertheless more deserving of interest than the belated addition to the title suggests. She was the daughter of Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga of Mantua (Rubens' first patron) and Eleonore de Medici, and she was quite beautiful. Ferdinand's first wife having died after giving birth to seven children, Eleonore diligently undertook the task of stepmother. Ever devout, she founded two Austrian Carmelite convents after Ferdinand's death. Hollestein, Dutch and Flemish etchings, engravings, and woodcuts, ca. 1450-1700 Vol XXVII, p. 201, no. 7, state i; Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs et Graveurs

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