Portrait of King Philip III of Spain (1578-1621)

Entry

King Philip III (1578-1621) of Spain was the fifth and only surviving son of King Philip II (1527-1598); his mother was Anna of Austria (1549-1580). He wears the badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece, of which he was made a knight in 1583. In 1599, he married his second cousin, Margaret of Austria (1584-1611), a portrait of whom (SK-A-508) is a pendant to the present picture. As will be clear in the discussion of both portraits in that entry, there can be no doubt about the identification of the sitters, first made in the museum catalogue of 1880.

The Venetian diplomat Simone Contarini (1601-1684) described the young Philip as ‘[of a] small body … of a pleasant appearance, modestly built, blonde beard and hair, very Catholic … Loves justice and avoids pleasure and enjoyment, known to hunt on his own, is a friend of solitude … he is no soldier or friend of arms …’.² The decoration of the garniture worn by the sitter is the same as that in portraits of circa 1592³ and 1594⁴ by Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (1554-1608) in Vienna; the corselet is preserved in the Real Armería, Madrid.⁵ The armour was given to the heir to the throne by Don Iñigo López de Mendoza (1556-1601), fifth Duke of Infantado, and was described in the 1594 inventory of the Real Armería as ‘Another small harness for foot tourney engraved and gilded with damascening work …’.⁶

Although he has traditionally been disparaged by historians, Philip was well prepared to assume his role as king.⁷ After an initial resumption of an ambitious pursuit of war, he oversaw the treaty of peace with the king of Great Britain in 1604, and – because of lack of funds – five years later the Twelve Years Truce with the opposing Dutch provinces. Spain was well able vigorously to resume hostilities at the end of the truce, and before that to assist the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II (r. 1619-37), in what became the Thirty Years War.⁸

See further discussion under SK-A-508.

Gregory Martin, 2022