About the Artwork
Michel Sittow’s portrait of a young woman with downcast eyes, holding a jar decorated with roses, has historically been identified as an image of the Spanish-born Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII of England. Another interpretation views her blue robes, reverent expression, and unguent jar as symbols of Mary Magdalene, a prominent figure in the life of Jesus, who was believed, in medieval legend, to have descended from a princely house. On these grounds, it has been suggested that the picture represents the artist’s major patron, Isabella I of Castile. The first monarch to be referred to as “Queen of Spain,” Isabella had a sweeping legacy, including her financing of Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage to the Americas.
Catherine of Aragon as the Magdalene
between 15th and 16th century
Michel Sittow
ca. 1468 - 1525 or 1526
Netherlandish
Unknown
Oil on oak panel
Image: 12 1/16 × 9 7/16 inches (30.7 × 24 cm) Unframed (uncradled): 12 5/8 × 9 15/16 × 1/4 inches (32.1 × 25.3 × 0.6 cm) Unframed (cradled): 12 5/8 × 9 15/16 × 7/8 inches (32.1 × 25.3 × 2.3 cm) Framed: 18 1/2 × 15 15/16 × 2 3/8 inches (47 × 40.5 × 6 cm)
Paintings
European Painting
Founders Society Purchase, General Membership Fund
40.50
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
before 1931, (art dealer, Berlin, Germany);collection of August Berg (Portland, Oregon, USA);
1940, collection of Clendenin J. Ryan (New York, New York, USA);
January 19, 1940, auctioned through (Parke-Bernet, New York, New York, USA), lot 218;
1940, (M. Knoedler & Co., New York, New York, USA);
1940-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Winkler, Friedrich. "Neue Werke des Meisters Michiel," Pantheon 7, no. 4 (April 1931): 175–178, pp. 175 (ill.), 178.
Winkler, Frederick. "Master Michiel." Art in America 19, no. 6 (October 1931): 247–257, pp. 248, 253, (fig. 6) (ill.).
Glück, Gustav. "The Henry VII in the National Portrait Gallery," Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 63, no. 366 (September 1933): 100–108, p. 107. [as in the collection of August Berg].
Baldass, Ludwig. "The Portraiture of Master Michiel," Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 67, no. 389 (August 1935): 76–78, p. 78.
Richardson, E. P. "Three Paintings by Master Michiel," Art Quarterly 2, no. 1 (1939): 102–111, p. 108. [as in the Berg Collection].
Johansen, Paul. "Meister Michel Sittow, Hofmaler der Königen Isabella von Kastilien und Bürger von Reval," Jahrbuch der Preussischen Kunstsammlungen 61 (1940): 1–36, pp. 35, no. 10.
Richardson, E[dgar] P. "Catherine of Aragon as the Magdalen by Master Michiel," Bulletin of the DIA 19, no. 8 (May 1940): 82–83, front cover (ill.), pp. 82–83.
Richardson, E. P. "The Recent Acquisitions: The Master Michiel Portrait," Art Quarterly 3, no. 3 (1940): 299–301, pp. 294, 299–301 (ill.).
Richardson, E. P., ed. The Detroit Institute of Arts, Catalogue of Paintings. Detroit, 1944, p. 90, no. 645.
Winkler, F. "Zittoz, Miguel, richtig Sittow," Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler 36, eds., Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. Leipzig, 1947, pp. 532–533.
Weinberger, Martin. "Notes on Maître Michiel," Burlington Magazine 90, no. 546 (September 1948): 247–253, p. 248 [as "Saint Margaret" in a Portland, Oregon private collection.]
Masterpieces of Painting and Sculpture from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1949, p. 96 (ill.).
Keller, K.T. and E.P. Richardson. "Care of the Collection," Bulletin of the DIA 35, no. 2 (1955–1956): 44–45, p. 44.
Magareta van Oostenrijk en haar hof. Exh. cat., Mechelen City Committee for the World Exposition. Mechelen, 1958, p. 10, cat. 84.
Richardson, E. P. "Portrait of a Man in a Red Hat by Master Michiel," Bulletin of the DIA 38, no. 4 (1958–1959): 79–83, pp. 81–82 (ill.).
Flanders in the Fifteenth Century: Art and Civilization. Exh. cat., DIA. Detroit, 1960, pp. 198-200, cat. 52 (ill.).
Le Siècle des Primitifs Flamands. Exh. cat., l’Administration Communale de Bruges and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Bruges, 1960, pp. 162–164, cat. 65 (ill.).
Winkler, Friedrich. "Ausstellung altniederländischer Bilder aus Amerika in Brügge. Zeichnungen von Van Dyck in Antwerpen," Kunstchronik 13 (1960): 312-318, p. 314.
Weltkunst 30 (August 1960): p. 3 (ill.).
Puyvelde, Leo van. La peinture Flamande au siècle de Bosch et Brueghel. Paris, 1962, pp. 359, 361, pl. 193 (ill.).
Treasures from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1966, p. 120 (ill.).
Rebas, Robert. “Michel Sittow: Hans aterupptäckande och verk.” Licentiate thesis, Stockholm University, 1971, pp. 34, 36, 58, no. 4; p. 89.
Rebas, Rain. "Michel Sittow: Taasavastamine ja looming," Eesti Keele ja Kirjanduse Instituudi aastaraamat [Year Book of the Institute of Estonian Language and Literature] 1, no. 10 (1973): 158–210, p. 176, no. 4 (ill.).
Trizna, Jazeps. Michel Sittow: Peintre Revelais de l'École Brugeoise (1468–1525/1526). Brussels, 1976, p. 33, no. 6; pp. 53–54, 97–98, no. 20, pl. XVI (ill.).
Kõks, Endel. "Michel Sittow: A Painter from Tallinn," Journal of Baltic Studies 9, no. 1 (1978): 32-49, pp. 46-47, 49.
Demus, Klaus, Friderike Klauner, and Karl Schütz, eds. Flämische Malerei von Jan van Eyck bis Pieter Bruegel D.Ä. Vienna. 1981, pp. 282–284. [see Meister Michiel Sittow "Bildnis der Katharina von Aragon (?)," inv. no. 5612]
Wayment, Hilary. "The Enigma of the Fairford Glass," Source 2, no. 1 (1982): 16–20, pp. 18-19.
Wayment, Hilary. The Stained Glass of the Church of St. Mary, Fairford, Gloucestershire. London, 1984, p. 95, pl. LXXIIIa (ill.).
Rebas, Robert. "Der Maler Michel Sittow," In Beiträge zur Geschichte der baltischen Kunst. Giessen, 1988, pp. 216, 226, 232 (ill.).
Bauman, G. C., and W. Liedtke. Flemish Paintings in America. Antwerp, 1992, p. 367, no. 449 (ill.).
Elsig, Frédéric. "Retrato de Catalina de Aragón." In El Renaciemiento Mediterráneo: Viajes de artistas e itinerarios de obras enter Italia, Francia y España en el siglo XV. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza and Museu de Belles Arts de València. Madrid, 2001, pp. 560, 562, (fig. 98B) (ill.).
Abel, Tiina, ed. Michel Sittow, 1469–1525: The Artist connecting Estonia with the Southern Netherlands. Tallinn, 2001, front cover, frontispiece, pp. 2, 24, 29, (ill.).
Ainsworth, Maryan W. "Intentional Alterations of Early Netherlandish Paintings," Metropolitan Museum Journal 40 (2005): 51–65, p. 59.
Frinta, Mojmir. "Observation on Michel Sittow." Artibus et Historiae 30, no. 60 (2009) 139-156, pp. 144, 146, 147, fig. 5 (ill.)
Weniger, Matthias. Sittow, Morros, Juan de Flandes: Drei Maler aus dem Norden am Hof Isabellas der Katholischen. Kiel, 2011, pp. 60–61, 90–92, no. 10, 645, 273, pl. 1c (ill.).
Dobrzynski, Judith H. "See It Now-Michel Sittow, Extraordinary Painter," Real Clear Arts (January 29, 2018). [see http://www.artsjournal.com/realcleararts/2018/01/see-it-now-michel-sittow-extraordinary-painter.html (accessed January 31, 2018)]
Hand, John Oliver and Greta Koppel. Michel Sittow: Estonian Painter at the Courts of Renaissance Europe. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2018, pp. 26 (ill.), 29, 36, 70–73, no. 10 (ill.), 82.
You, Yao-Fen. "Paul Coremans, Edgar Richardson and the 1960 Flemish Art show: A Transatlantic Friendship Forged by a Transatlantic Exhibition." In A Man of Vision, Scientia Artis 15. Brussels, 2019, pp. 172, note 2.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Michel Sittow, Catherine of Aragon as the Magdalene, between 15th and 16th century, oil on oak panel. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase, General Membership Fund, 40.50.
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