3-097-971 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

María of Austria, Queen of Hungary, 1650. Portrait of Maria Anna of Spain (1606-1646), Holy Roman Empress and Queen Consort of Hungary. She acted as regent on several occasions during the absences of her husband Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor. Maria is looking at the viewer, her hand resting on a small table next to the imperial crown. She wears a sumptuous grey silk dress, with an elaborate hairstyle, both trimmed with lace. She displays the protruding jaw typical of mandibular prognathism, often also referred to as Habsburg chin or Habsburg jaw, so named because of its prevalence amongst historical members of the House of Habsburg. Due to the constraints imposed by Spanish fashion, the queen's silhouette is more vertical than is common in other paintings by Frans Luycks. It is important to note the influence of Velázquez on this portrait, a logical consequence of the exchange between the courts of Madrid and Vienna. This explains the confusion in 17th-century inventories, which catalogued Luycks' portraits under the name of Velázquez or his school.