Arte y ceremonia en torno a Margarita de Austria durante su periplo hispano (1497-1499)

Abstract

ABSTRACT At the end of the 15th century, the fruits of the acclaimed internacional policy of the Catholic Monarchs began to sprout, built on alliances with various European Powers through the marriage of their children. The happy marriage in 1497 of Prince Don Juan with the daughter of the future Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian I of Austria, resulted in the unexpected and premature death of the heir of Castile and Aragon, the first of a series of misfortunes that plagued Queen Isabel until her death, soon after, completely staggering the achievements reached by the Hispanic monarchs. “A national catastrophe that venture marked a deviation from the history of Spain”, in the words of Menéndez Pelayo, or the beginning of what Ortega y Gasset called “invertebration of Spain”. However, the two years that Margaret of Austria lived by the side of the Catholic Monarchs, were trascendental to finish forging the political genius and fondness for the arts that characterized her in her time as governor of the Low Countries. Historical paths and misfortunes aside, there is no doubt that this alliance had a positive significance in the artistic-cultural relations between Castile and the Netherlands, that existed since the times of Duke Philip the Bold and came to its highest point during the governments of Charles V and Philip II.