Jooris van der Straeten

Originally from Ghent, he travelled abroad and became portrait painter to the ruling houses in Portugal, Spain and France.

He was documented from 1560 to 1568 under the name Jorge de la Rúa as painter of Elisabeth of Valois, the Spanish queen consort.

She paid a high sum for a painting of the Immaculate Virgin with five figures that hung over the queen's bed.

[7] He was still at the Spanish court in January 1571, as he is documented at that time occupied with a portrait of the infantas Isabella Clara Eugenia and Catherine Michelle.

To Jorge de la Rúa is also attributed a portrait of Prince Don Carlos in armor in the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales.

[10] While Jooris van der Straeten is mainly known as a portrait painter for rulers of the Habsburg and Valois, he also created Christian devotional scenes for his royal patrons.

[12] The coherence of portraits made by painters working at the court of Philip II can be explained by the propagandistic purpose behind their creation and use.

Achieving a likeness in the portrait of the king and his family was secondary to giving form to the concept of the Habsburg majesty.

[13] This so-called 'Spanish school of portrait painting' typically depicted the royal sitters at full or three-quarter length in a not overly heroic but rather personal manner.