3-098-916 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Queen Isabella the Catholic Overseeing Her Children's Education, c1864. Alternative title: Queen Isabella I of Castile, presiding over the education of her children. Isabella I of Castile, "the Catholic" (1451-1504) is accompanied by John of Aragon and Castile (1477-1497), Prince of Asturias. The catalogue for the National Exhibition of Fine Arts of 1864 explains: "The Queen showed the keenest concern for the education of her children; her daughters were endowed with excellent natural gifts, which complemented their mother's efforts, and for their instruction the most competent teachers were employed, both native and foreign, and especially from Italy. Their instruction was entrusted more particularly to two brothers native to that country named Antonio and Alejandro Geraldino... Prince Juan would take a break from his serious and philosophical studies, devoting himself to more pleasant pursuits, and devoted many of his leisure hours to music, for which he had a very refined taste, having made remarkable progress in it, to the point of playing different instruments very well."