Panel Painting Ferdinand of Aragon
Object number
LDSAL323
Artist/Designer/Maker
Unknown artist
Production date
Circa 1520
Material
oil paint
oak
oak
Technique
Oil on panel
Dimensions
height: 310mm
width: 205mm
height (Of Fragment): 385mm
width (Of Frame): 285mm
width: 205mm
height (Of Fragment): 385mm
width (Of Frame): 285mm
Location
Burlington House - (on display)
References
Reference (free text)
pp.426-429
Reference (controlled)
Ferdinand II of Aragon : The King who Imagined Spain and Opened it to Europe (2015). [Exhibition]. Government of Aragon, Spain (Aljaferia Royal Palace). 10 March 2015 - 7 June 2015.
Reference (controlled)
The Paston Treasure: Microcosm of the Known world (2018). [Exhibition]. Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven. 15 February 2018 - 27 May 2018.
Arch-topped oil on oak panel portrait of Ferdinand of Aragon (1452–1516), within integral frame.
Ferdinand (1452–1516) married Isabella of Castile (1451–1504) in 1469 and, as her consort, became joint ruler with her of Castile and Leon in 1474. He then inherited the kingdom of Aragon in 1479, whereupon he and Isabella ruled all of Spain except for the Muslim kingdom of Granada, which eventually fell to them in 1492. In the hope of securing the support of England against France, Ferdinand and Isabella agreed to the marriage of their youngest daughter, Catherine of Aragon, to Prince Arthur, heir to the English throne. Married in 1501, Catherine was widowed the following year and, in 1509, became the wife of Arthur’s younger brother, Henry VIII, giving birth to the future Mary I in 1516, before falling from favour in 1525.
Ferdinand is portrayed in the Society’s painting as a fairly young man. In other panel portraits, he appears thick-set, unshaven, and in early middle age, whereas in the Society’s picture he is slender and still youthful. There is no way of establishing when the Society’s portrait of Ferdinand, or its prototype, arrived in England, nor whether it came directly from Spain or from The Netherlands. Opportunities for Henry VII to receive a portrait of Ferdinand would certainly have arisen when England and Spain were negotiating an alliance and exchanging ambassadors, as in 1487–9, or with the arrival of Catherine of Aragon and her wedding entourage in 1501. A youthful portrait of Ferdinand could have found its way to England even before this, for Queen Isabella had made earlier overtures to the English Crown with the object of securing an alliance against France. Isabella’s envoy, dispatched to discuss the matter with the English monarch in 1483, found himself addressing Richard III, who responded with an amicable letter.
Ferdinand is portrayed in the Society’s painting as a fairly young man. In other panel portraits, he appears thick-set, unshaven, and in early middle age, whereas in the Society’s picture he is slender and still youthful. There is no way of establishing when the Society’s portrait of Ferdinand, or its prototype, arrived in England, nor whether it came directly from Spain or from The Netherlands. Opportunities for Henry VII to receive a portrait of Ferdinand would certainly have arisen when England and Spain were negotiating an alliance and exchanging ambassadors, as in 1487–9, or with the arrival of Catherine of Aragon and her wedding entourage in 1501. A youthful portrait of Ferdinand could have found its way to England even before this, for Queen Isabella had made earlier overtures to the English Crown with the object of securing an alliance against France. Isabella’s envoy, dispatched to discuss the matter with the English monarch in 1483, found himself addressing Richard III, who responded with an amicable letter.