Exemplary Widows. Princess Joan of Austria, patronage and devotion

Abstract

The article runs through the group of widows around Philip II, since it was with them that the prototype of the politically, socially and artistically active woman came into being. Furthermore, it considers the importance of this major role in the consolidation of the Habsburg dynasty’s image, despite the fact that this role has been watered down in a historiography that has confi ned them to the background. The example of Joan of Austria, also known as Joan of Portugal, is one of the clearest, and one in which the work of governing and a certain “male” slant to her personality distances her from the functions that society allocated to widows. In this way, and using the portraits of her that have come down to us, it analyses the changes and the status that the princess, regent and Jesuit took on throughout her short life.