Margaret of Austria

Margaret of Austria (1480 - 1530) became Regent of the Netherlands. This painting is one half of a diptych, the other half of which shows her brother, 'Philip the Handsome', who became Philip I of Castile, who wears the collar of the Golden Fleece. The arms at the top of this panel are hers: showing on one side the same arms as those of her brother and on the other a blank area, signifying that she is an unmarried woman. The other coats of arms are of territories which belonged to the House of Austria.

From the arms and inscriptions it can be established that this diptych was painted in about 1493-5. This is confirmed by a diptych of the same sitters at Schloss Ambras, on the frame of which their ages are written as 16 and 14, so dating it to about 1494. The commission of the Schloss Ambras picture and the present painting was perhaps connected with a proposed double marriage into the Spanish royal house.