Minerva, Hispania and Bellona: body and image of Isabel of Bourbon in the “Salón de Reinos”

Abstract

In this article we present a new interpretation of the equestrian portrait of Isabel of Bourbon. The portrait was conceived between the years 1631-1635 and destined for the “Salón de Reinos”. Its thematic content clearly constitutes a new departure in the pictorial panorama of the Spanish Hapsburgs because it was the first time at the Madrid court that a queen consort had been portrayed on horseback. The reasons why Isabel of Bourbon was granted this iconographic honor are to be found in the particular circumstances in which the Hall of Realms was conceived and in the political evolution of the sovereign who had the opportunity to prove her worth during her period as consort to the Spanish monarch. In the Hall of Realms Isabel of Bourbon received well deserved recognition for her political and dynastic efforts between 1621 and 1635.