3-098-910 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Final Moments of Philip II, 1864. The scene is taking place in one of the palatial rooms of the Monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial. The dying monarch blesses his son, the soon-to-be king Philip III, in the presence of his daughter Isabella Clara Eugenia. On the left, two ecclesiastics - presumably the archbishop of Toledo, Loaysa, and the prior of the monastery, or perhaps his confessor, Brother Diego de Yepes - can be seen. Three noblemen, perhaps Don Cristóbal de Mora and Don Fernando de Toledo, the King's favourites, can be seen on the right. Through the window in the background, through which Philip II used to follow the religious services, the viewer can see the funerary monument to Emperor Charles V, his wife Isabella of Portugal; his daughter, Maria of Austria, Holy Roman Empress; and his sisters Leonor and Maria; a work by Pompeo Leoni, located in the presbytery of the church, on the side where the Gospel used to be read. In the upper right-hand corner, in semi-darkness, Titian's The Virgin Dolorosa with her Hands apart can be seen. It had been housed in El Escorial since 1574 after being brought from Yuste.