In this three-quarter portrait Queen Isabel de Valois (1546-1568) wears a black velvet gown with round sleeves from which her slashed red silk undersleeves embroidered with gold and silver thread peep out. On her head is a tilted flat cap which, like the buttons adorning the gown, is decorated with diamonds and rubies. The French queen would have dressed in this manner for solemn events, embellish
A fire in El Pardo Palace on March 13, 1604, destroyed the portraits in the Hall of Kings. These portraits had been painted by the finest artists of the time, including Titian, Antonio Moro, Alonso Sánchez Coello, and Sofonisba Anguisciola. Encased in stucco frames attached to the walls of the gallery, which had been organized by Sánchez Coello at the behest of Philip II, these portr