We’ve got exciting news about the our of three Maritime paintings that allude to the Habsburg family. You may remember the posts from back in 2009, where we explored the lore of the Habsburg dynasty, symbolism of the flags, and the allusions to Greek and Roman myths.
The present paintings combine historic, heraldic, and mythological references. While the central painted portions appear to represent historic figures, the flanking painted areas and carved panels are reserved for mythological elements. All three pictures are rife with allusions to Roman mythology and Virgil’s Aeneid; Maximilian I Holy Roman Emperor (1459-1519) and his grandson, Charles V Holy Roman Emperor (1500-1558), began the precedent of tracing their genealogy to Troy, proclaiming a descendance from Aeneas.
Fine and decorative art, as we know, is littered with symbolism intended to lend clues about a piece’s history and subject matter. We have recently acquired a fantastic group of three paintings that represent a chapter in the history of the Habsburg dynasty. One large and two smaller in size, the works are most mysterious both in construction and in theme. To begin, each of the three paintings are comprised of a framed canvas; however, they also incorporate hinged polychrome panels of carved relief, which, unlike traditional diptychs or triptychs, are directly integrated into the scenes. These panels open to reveal vivid lacca povera on their undersides, and blank areas on the canvas they conceal. The paintings have been re-lined and it is probable that the pictures were once mounted to the wall, the panels concealing hidden niches where the blank areas are now situated.