Elisabeth of Bourbon, Queen of Spain, plate 13 from Duces Burgundiae (Dukes of Burgundy)

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

Active in Flanders and the Netherlands, Pieter Soutman was an accomplished painter, draftsman, and printmaker who also acted as a print publisher. The works in this portrait series of the dukes of Burgundy and their wives are distinguished by their elaborate borders, which Soutman designed and engraved himself. The portraits in the center of the compositions are adapted from compositions originated by the favored artists of the Burgundian courts—Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Titian, and, in these two examples (1995.221.1, 1995.221.2), Peter Paul Rubens. Like the genealogical tree represented nearby (2015.13), this series reflects the 17th-century obsession with dynastic succession.

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