Philip the Handsome

Philip the Handsome (1478 - 1506) became Philip I of Castile, and he is wearing the collar of the Golden Fleece. This painting is one half of a diptych, the other half of which shows his sister, 'Margaret of Austria' (1480 - 1530), who became Regent of the Netherlands. The arms at the top of this panel are his: 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.