JOOS VAN CLEVE (ACTIVE 1505/08-1540/41)
Eleanora of Austria, Queen of France (1498-1558)
c.1531-4RCIN 403369
When Eleanora of Austria married the French king, Francis I, in 1526, she maintained elements of her Spanish-style clothing as a deliberate and politically motivated attempt to preserve her Habsburg identity at the French court. In this portrait her hairstyle and the shape of the fur oversleeves are particularly Spanish. Later however she conceded to wear French styles, and cultivated a new image of a ‘French queen’ through the patronage of French court artists.