Don John of Austria

Sir William Stirling Maxwell describes this picture as "perhaps the most satisfactory existing portrait on canvas as he appeared in his prime. It is not impossible that it may be the work of Stradamus." "He wears a small rapier, the Order of the Fleece and a steel cuirass, slightly enriched with gold, with sleeves of chain armour, a band of red velvet being on the right arm and a pair of trunk breeches of some dark parti-coloured stuff, over which is a casing of crimson perpendicular bars (resembling velvet). That this outer covering or cage is detached from the lining is made evident by his dagger hanging between the lining and the cage. His hose and shoes are of light crimson, approaching to pink ... a helmet with a blue plume."

Flemish School. In the Prado Gallery, Madrid.

Philip II as a Young Man

Born 1527. Died 1598.

Son of the Emperor Charles V and Isabel of Portugal.

Married 1. Maria of Portugal. 2. Mary Tudor, Queen of England. 3. Elizabeth of Valois (Isabel of the Peace). 4. Anne of Austria (his niece).

Portrait by Titian (1477-1576) is in the Prado Gallery, Madrid.

Luis Quijada, Lord of Villagarcia

Died 1570.

Specially photographed for this book from a picture in the possession of the Conde de Santa Coloma.

A replica of this picture exists in Seville in the Palace of the MarquÉs de la Motilla, of which Don Emilio M. de Torres y Gonzalez-Arnao kindly sent a specially taken photograph.

Emperor Charles V. Charles I of Spain, 1500-58.

Son of Philip the Handsome, of Burgundy, and Joan the Mad.

Began to reign 1516. Elected Holy Roman Emperor 1519.

Abdicated 1555. Married Isabel of Portugal.

This portrait by Titian represents the Emperor at the battle of Muhlberg (1546), where, an historian says, "he looked a warrior; he rode an Andalusian horse covered with a crimson silk cloth with a gold fringe. His armour was brilliant, the helmet and cuirass garnished with gold. He wore the red sash with golden stripes of the general of the house of Burgundy."

This armour still exists in the Royal Armoury at Madrid, and has been reconstructed according to the portrait with the most life-like results. The picture itself is in the Prado.

DoÑa Leonor de MascareÑas

As governess to Philip II and his son, D. Carlos, she exercised, by reason of her virtues and great discretion, much influence at the Court of the Emperor Charles V, who held her in great esteem. She was also the friend of St. Theresa, and founded the Convent of Our Lady of the Angels in Madrid, to which she retired.

This photograph is from the portrait by Sir Antonio More, belonging to the MarquÉs de la Vega-InclÁn, which until recently remained in the Convent she had founded. The photograph is the first ever taken of the picture, and was kindly sent by Don Emilio M. de Torres y Gonzalez-Arnao.

Infanta Juana of Spain

Daughter of the Emperor Charles V and Isabel of Portugal. Married D. Juan, Prince of Portugal, and was mother of the luck-less King Sebastian. As a widow she returned to rule Spain during the years that Philip spent in England as husband of Queen Mary Tudor.

Don Juan Valera says, "Beautiful and passionate as we cannot doubt her to have been, since she inspired so ardent a devotion in the Prince her husband that he preferred to die rather than leave her ... yet she was so austere and shy that she never consented to show her face," and was heavily veiled when she gave audiences. If any doubted whether they were really addressing her, she would lift her covering, and directly her visitor was satisfied, drop it again. SeÑor Valera quotes this as a proof that none of the descendants of Joan the Mad were entirely free from the taint of insanity.

Portrait by Sir Antonio More (1512-82) is in the Prado Gallery, Madrid.

Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma

Died 1592, aged forty-eight.

Son of Margaret, Duchess of Parma, half-sister to Don John, after whose death Alexander Farnese took command of the troops in Flanders. Married the Princess Maria of Portugal.

The portrait in the Museo Nazionale, Naples, is ascribed to F. M. Mazzola (called Parmigiano) (1503-40), but dates would seem to make this impossible.

Don Carlos, Prince of the Asturias

Died 1568.

Son of Philip II and Maria of Portugal.

Picture by Sanchez Coello (died 1590) is in Prado Gallery, Madrid.

Elizabeth de Valois. Isabel de la Paz

Died 1558, aged twenty-three.

Daughter of Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici.

Third wife of Philip II of Spain.

BrantÔme writes of her: "Those who saw her thus in a painted portrait admired her, and I will leave you to guess the delight it was to see her face to face with her sweetness and grace."

This picture is alluded to by Sir William Stirling Maxwell in his "Annals of the Artists of Spain"; he says that her eyes and hair are dark and her complexion brilliant, "The head is full of beauty and life; the dress of black velvet, though closed at the throat, is becoming ... a small ruff encircles the neck, and the robe is garnished with a profusion of gold chains and jewellery, all admirably designed and painted. Unless there be some mistake in the date of the painter's birth, this portrait was probably copied from one by his master (Sanchez Coello), as Queen Isabella died in 1568, when Pantoja was only seventeen years of age."

This portrait is by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (1551 circa 1609), and is in the Prado Gallery, Madrid.

Don Fernando Alvarez de Toledo. 3rd Duque de Alba, called the "Gran Duque," 1507-82

Married Maria Enriquez, daughter of the Conde de Alba de Lesten. Captain-General of the Kingdoms of Castille and Aragon, of the Spanish troops in Italy, and of the army in Portugal. Governor of Milan and Viceroy of Naples. Governor of Flanders. Councillor of State and War to Charles V and Philip II, whose tutor he was. He acted as Proxy for the King at Philip II's third and fourth marriages. Recalled from Flanders in 1573, he fell into disgrace with Philip II, and was imprisoned in the Castle of Uceda. He was liberated in order that he might pacify the Portuguese rebellion. In 1580 he won the battles which gained this Kingdom for Spain. He died at Lisbon.

This portrait by Titian represents the Duke at about the age of forty. He wears black armour wrought with gold and a red sash, and the balustrade on which he leans is cushioned with red velvet. It may very possibly have belonged to the Duke himself; it certainly was in the possession of the celebrated Conde Duque de Olivares, as it was amongst those entailed by him with the Carpio estate. With this property it passed to the Alba family, and from thence was brought to its present place in the Palacio de Liria in Madrid.

Portrait of the same by Gulliermo Key (1520-68)

Painted in Flanders when the Duke was sixty-one.

There is an improbable legend about this picture that it cost the artist his life, from the shock of hearing the Duke let drop in Spanish that the two Counts, Horn and Egmont, were sentenced to death.

Don John of Austria

From a picture attributed to Sir Antonio More in the possession of Don Fernande Fernandez de Velasco.

Cardinal de Granvelle

Born 1517. Died 1586.

Antoine Perrenot. Bishop of Arras. Primate of the Netherlands.

A well-known statesman during the reigns of Charles V and Philip II. Chief Councillor to the Duchess of Parma when Governess of the Netherlands. He became so unpopular that in 1564 Philip II was compelled to advise him to retire to his estates in Burgundy. The Cardinal left vowing that he would not cut his beard until he returned to Brussels. Three years later he went to Rome, where he assisted in the negotiations of the Holy League. He subsequently became Viceroy of Naples.

From his picture by Scipione Pulzone called Gaetano in Municipal Museum, BesanÇon.

Sebastian Veniero. Doge of Venice

Died 1578.

Son of Moise Venier.

Married Cecilia di Nadalin Contarini.

After being constantly employed in many important posts at home and abroad, including that of Procuratore di San Marco, he became General del Mar, and commanded the left wing at the battle of Lepanto, where he was wounded in the knee by an arrow. Padre Coloma says that he was seventy at this time, which would place his birth in 1501. He was elected Doge June 11, 1577, and died eight months later.

Portrait by Titian in the Prado Gallery, Madrid.

Dispatch announcing the Victory of Lepanto, dated Petala, October 9, 1571. Postscript in Don John's Writing

There are several known copies of the dispatch, the postscripts varying from one to two lines, according to the importance of the person addressed. This one was almost certainly sent to the President of the Council of Castille, Cardinal Espinosa, though, from the outer sheet being torn, the address is wanting.

It is in three lines:

"Doy a V.M. el parabien desta vitoria que NrÕ SeÑor ha sido servido darnos, como a quien holgara de tan felice nueva lo es justo."

"I congratulate Your Grace on the victory that Our Lord has been pleased to give us, as is due to one who will rejoice over such happy news."

From the collection of the Conde de Valencia de D. Juan. Photographed specially for this book.

Postscript in D. John of Austria's writing from the collection of the Conde de Valencia de D. Juan.

Philip II and his son, Don Fernando

Sir William Stirling Maxwell says that tradition has connected this picture with Lepanto. Philip II is represented holding up to Heaven his short-lived son, by Anne of Austria, Don Fernando, who was born December 4, 1571, shortly after the news of the victory reached Spain. It is stated that the picture was painted by Titian (1477-1576) "at the age of ninety-four at least."

It is in the Prado Gallery, Madrid.

Statue of Don John of Austria at Messina

This statue by Andrea Calamech is still in existence (June, 1912). Sir William Stirling Maxwell is "disposed to consider it the most interesting and important" portrait which has come down to us. He says, "The head, which was considered an excellent likeness, is very noble and graceful." "Although the gilding with which it once shone resplendent has disappeared it is still one of the most effective monuments of sixteenth-century art."

"The statue stood in the small Piazza between the Palace and the Church of Our Lady of the Pillar until 1853 when it was removed to the Piazza of the Annunziata."

Don John of Austria

From a print sent by Colonel Coloma.

Antonio PÉrez

Died 1611.

Illegitimate son of Gonzalo PÉrez.

Married DoÑa Juana de Coello Bozmediano. Secretary and favourite of Philip II. Fell into disgrace and was tried and tortured in 1582. Contrived to escape, first to Aragon, afterwards to France and England, but was sent back to Portugal and died in Paris.

In his exile he wrote his "Memorial" to prove his own innocence and his master's guilt. Major Martin Hume thinks that "the moral portrait of the King (Philip II), still current in foreign countries, owes much to the literary talent with which Antonio PÉrez presented his subtle sophistries."

(EspaÑoles É ingleses en el siglo XVI.)

The picture by Sir Antonio More is in Paris.

Autograph of Barbara Blombergh

Mother of Don John of Austria by the Emperor Charles V.

Afterwards married to Jerome Kegel.

Died 1598.

From the collection of the Conde de Valencia de D. Juan.

Photographed specially for this book.

Princesa de Évoli

Born 1540.

Daughter of the Count de Melito. Married in 1553 Ruy Gomez de Silva, afterwards Prince of Évoli, who died 1573.

She was a great heiress, and her family accused Antonio PÉrez of squandering her fortune. There now seems little doubt that anger at the discovery of her intrigue with him was the chief reason of the assassination of the Secretary Escovedo.

Philip II caused her to be arrested suddenly in 1579, and imprisoned first in the tower of Pinto, and then exiled to her own house at Pastrana for the rest of her life.

The picture from which the print used is taken is by Sanchez Coello, in the possession of her descendant, the Duque de Pastrana.

Philip II as an Old Man

"This picture is well worthy of note, as it shows how the crowned monk of the Escorial looked when on the brink of the grave. In Pantoja's worn, sickly, sour old man, with lack-lustre, restless eyes, protruding under-lip and

wearing a rusty sugar-loaf hat and holding in his hand a common brown rosary, we see the last stage of the sumptuous Prince whose youthful bearing has been made immortal by the pencil of Titian."

By Juan Pantoja de la Cruz in the Prado Gallery, Madrid.

Don John of Austria's Place of Burial

View of the Escorial and surrounding country. Present day.

To quote SeÑor Baros, "The victory of St. Quentin was gained on the Feast of St. Laurence and Don Philip wished to raise an edifice in honour of the saint which should be a convent, a royal mausoleum and a palace. When the Emperor took leave of his son he had charged him to erect a worthy sepulchre for his own remains and those of the Empress. The King caused the Spanish architect Juan Bautista de Toledo to come from Naples, who designed the Escorial in the shape of a gridiron. The first stone was laid in 1563. This superb monument was finished by Juan de Herrera, 1584."

These short notes are mostly culled from the works of Sir William Stirling Maxwell, Major Martin Hume and SeÑor Baros. Those on the Duque de Alba are taken from the catalogue made for the present Duke by Don Angel de Barcia, of which a portion was specially reprinted for this book.