a wonderful portrait

Hans Maler [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I find this 1520 portrait of Queen Anne of Hungary and her dog (what sort of dog could that be?) very appealing. Though I'm sure the gown and hat she sports are of her time and status, the exaggeration of the textile and that fabulous hat with its whyisTHATthere jewel off to the side are to my modern eyes playful, even surrealist. And look at the collar her little friend wears. Very nice - well, you'd expect nothing less. Here's something interesting: though the painter of this, Hans Maler zu Schwaz, usually chose not to include hands in his portrait busts, he's done so here. Of course he did, if he was going to include the dog. Yet see how some feeling sneaks through the stiff, iconic gesture: the palm over the dog's chest, the thumbs almost entirely circling him, the dog raring to go.

Lovely. To learn a little about this lady, also known as Anna Jagellonica, go here.