Resumen de Family members and political allies: the portrait collection of Margaret of Austria
This paper investigates the portraits in the more public areas of Margaret of Austria's palace in Mechelen, the Première Chambre and the library. The former emerges as a dynastic portrait gallery with a political agenda, shaped and enlarged to promote Margaret's family and their allies. No portraits of Margaret herself were present in this room, but her public image was carefully constructed in the library, where two marble busts of her and her deceased husband Philibert of Savoy were displayed. Surviving documents show the extent to which she developed the portrait collection in Mechelen by means of her active patronage.
