Retrato de Felipe II

Sofonisba Anguissola came to the Spanish court in 1559, not as a hired painter but as a lady-in-waiting to the young queen, Elizabeth of Valois, Philip's third wife. That she painted the king at all was unusual, a noblewoman from Cremona, admired for her skill, moving inside the royal household. She gives Philip the sober black of Spanish court dress and a quiet, careful face. In his left hand he holds a rosary, a private note of the king's devotion, while his right rests lightly on the arm of the chair, a small gesture a viewer then would read at once as royal authority. X-rays show she reworked him as she went, trading a heavy cape for lighter black silk to make the standing figure more graceful.