Archduchess Anna (1549-1580), Daughter of Emperor Maximilian II

Around 1563, when this bust was painted, Archduchess Anna was about 14 and already part of the marriage plans that tied the Austrian Habsburgs to the Spanish ones. Her father, the future Emperor Maximilian II, had been governing Spain when she was born there in 1549, and for years she was spoken of as a bride for Don Carlos, the heir of King Philip II. Don Carlos died in 1568, and in 1570 Philip married Anna himself, his own niece, as his fourth wife. She became the mother of the next king, Philip III, and died in 1580 at the age of 30. The Kunsthistorisches Museum lists the painter with a question mark, possibly Giuseppe Arcimboldo. The portrait belongs to the old Ambras collection, gathered at this castle by her uncle, Archduke Ferdinand of Tyrol.