Portrait of Philip II

This painting portrays the then prince Philip, future Philip II (1527-1598) between the ages of twenty-two and twenty-five, dressed in a luxurious costume with slashed sleeves, a thick gold chain around his neck, from which hangs the insignia of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and a sword with a richly decorated hilt at his waist. (The Distinguished Order of the Golden Fleece is a Roman Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges by the Burgundian duke Philip the Good in 1430, to celebrate his marriage to Isabella of Portugal.) His right hand rests on a table covered in a decorative pink velvet cloth; he holds his gloves in his left hand.

The English inscription in the upper left corner was painted at a later date and reveals the picture’s provenance from an aristocratic collection in England.