Czére Andrea szerk.: A Szépművészeti Múzeum közleményei (Budapest, 2008)

JÚLIA TÁTRAI AND LÁSZLO LENGYEL: Archduke Albert († 1621) on the Catafalque: A Picture of Old-New Acquisition

both pictures. There is a difference however: while the close-up solution of the picture in Budapest shows only the catafalque and the figures standing nearby, in the picture in Brussels the location is shown from a more distant, higher viewpoint, thus providing a larger overview of the palace chapel and some of its windows, and the mourners are more numerous. Other minor deviations between the two depictions: in the Brussels picture the baldachin is more spacious and larger in comparison to the dead body; the pattern of the drapery of the baldachin is different, as is the shape of the four, decorative vases on the top of it and of the candlesticks too; the foliage running up the pillars is thicker in the Brussels picture and the figure of the bird is on the lower part of the prince's hat and not on the top of it. One explanation for these deviations is that the pictures were made at two different times, which is a reasonable assumption since Albert lay in state for four days. But it is even more plausible that the painters only made sketches on the spot, and executed the final work in their studios. The picture in Brussels shows the body lying under the baldachin from the other side, thus the sword in Albert's right hand becomes visible

—while it is hidden from view in the Budapest picture. This ceremonial sword was given to Albert as a symbolic gift in 1599 by Pope Clement (Aldobrandini) VIII to fight against Protestant heretics and to strengthen the Catholic faith.

,: The sword, adorned with a bird's head and pearls, can be seen on the half-length depiction showing Albert on his catafalque from close up (Madrid, Monasterio de las Descalzas Reales)'

3 (fig. 6) together with his crown and black hat. The date of his death (OBIIT IVLLII 1621) appears in a Latin inscription, in a similar way as in the picture in Budapest. It is not known when this portrait was placed in the monastery, but it is possible that it was given as a present by Isabella to Margarita de la Cruz, Albert's sister, who lived there as a nun. In the inventories of the monastery the person depicted in the picture is identified erroneously as Philip TH, even though a great deal of care was taken to make sure the painting was placed in a prominent place.

34 The painters of both pictures in Brussels and in Madrid are regarded by scholars as unknown. It has been suggested that the author of the picture in Madrid was a Flemish painter, and although this attribution would be logical, stylistically it seems to be rather the work of a Spanish painter." Of the three paintings the one in Budapest is unequivocally of the highest quality

7

. By the beginning of the seventeenth century the genre of catafalque paintings had spread throughout Europe and thus had also reached Hungary. Portraits of the dead continued in a somewhat modified form right until the end of the nineteenth century.

36 The composition