Portrait of Luis de Requesens y Zuniga (1527–1576) Grand Commander of Castile and Governor of Milan and the Spanish Netherlands
inscribed, upper left,
oil on canvas, 65 x 52.7 cm, framed

An inscription identifies the sitter of the present portrait as Don Luis de Requesens. His father, the second son of the Count of Miranda, was a tutor for young Infante Philip, later King Philip II. When still a young man, Requesens was a member of the closer entourage of Emperor Charles V, who he accompanied on several journeys to Germany. A military talent, he won several important victories over the Moors in the 1560s. He was the mentor of Don Juan d’Austrias and as lieutenant-general played a crucial role in the successful outcome of the Battle of Lepanto. In 1571, King Philip II appointed him Governor of the Duchy of Milan and subsequently chose him as the successor of the Duke of Alba as governor of the Netherlands. In 1574 he achieved a decisive victory over the rebels in the Battle of Mookerheyde.

Only a few portraits of the so-called ‘Grand Comendadors’ exist. At least half of the printed portraits, which either show him in armour or in civilian attire, present him as a knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece, although he had never been a member of this order. It must thus be assumed that these depictions relied on a contemporary source who on this point was mistaken. The model in question may have been an engraved portrait of the governor that is very similar to the present painting in terms of physiognomy and which was used by Frans Hogenberg for editions of historical prints that appeared between 1560 and 1623 and in which Requesens is also misleadingly shown with the Golden Fleece. Dating seems to be made easier by the fact that the inscription mentions none of Requesens’ later offices and honours. In an engraved portrait he is shown with the cross of the Order of Santiago, which he had already received as a young man, and he is referred to as ‘Magnus Castellae Commendator Gubernator Belgy’, a high office that is also mentioned in other portraits. This may suggest that the present work was executed before he was appointed governor. On the other hand, scholars have pointed out that the present picture might even be a posthumous portrait painted after the sitter’s sudden death in 1576.

The iconography underscores Requesens’ role as one of the leading commanders and politicians of the Spanish monarchy during the second half of the 16th century. His armour shows a stylised escutcheon at the neck, probably the ‘Cruz de Alcoraz’, a symbol of the fight against the Moors, as well as the coats of arms of Aragon and Barcelona, the latter of which was the sitter’s birth place. However, there are also heraldic allusions to the claim of the Habsburg universal monarchy to the legacy of the Holy Roman Empire. The armour plate is decorated with a bundle of spolia and the motto ‘SPQR’. Another interpretation emerges if one reads the coat of arms at the neck as that of the Duchy of Milan, whose governor Requesens became in 1571 and in whose famous workshops his magnificent armour might have been manufactured, which would offer an alternative date of execution for the present painting.

The portraitist must have been a contemporary Spanish court artist. Otto van Veen, Frans Pourbus the Elder, and Frans Pourbus the Younger have been suggested as possible artists. Frans Pourbus the Elder painted the portrait of one of the sitter’s relatives, Don Inigo Lopez de Mendoza y Zuniga (now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna).

Additional image
Fig. 1: Luis de Requesens in an engraving by Frans Hogenberg, circa 1580
Fig. 2: Coat-of-arms of the Spanish Duchy of Milan