This painting is a portrait of the Spanish Queen Elisabeth of Valois.
Elisabeth of Valois was the daughter of the French King Henry the Second.
When she was 13 years old, she was forced to marry the Spanish King Philip the Second, who was 33 years old.
In the painting, the queen stands and rests her right hand on a column.
This column represents the strength of the Habsburg family.
The Habsburg family was the family of King Philip the Second.
Elisabeth of Valois wears a black velvet dress with a long train and pointed sleeves.
The dress fastens with pearls at the front.
The sleeves are held in place with ruby and diamond buttons.
The undersleeves are silver and gold.
Also, the queen wears a jewelled headdress in her hair and a necklace and belt of diamonds and pearls.
Elisabeth of Valois holds a small portrait of King Philip the Second in her hand.
We call these portraits miniatures.
At the time, miniatures were decorated with gold to make them look like jewellery.
In the miniature, the king wears black and has the Golden Fleece around his neck on a red silk ribbon.
The Golden Fleece is a necklace associated with the kings of Spain.
Experts believed that the author of this painting was Sánchez Coello.
But when they studied the painting, they discovered that the author was Sofonisba Anguissola, an Italian painter.
