Comments on: Feel Art Again: Portrait of Isabella of Portugal

By: tania

tania — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 00:39:00 +0000

i luv this pic of her she loks soooo simple and eligant and fancy lol well thats all i had to say but i really like this picture of queen isabella the 1st.

By: Andréa

Andréa — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:23:52 +0000

Sid Morrison: Good job! I was looking around too, but didn’t find that link.

mrs.djs: If it’s not a Book of Hours, like Sid Morrison suggested, the book may be there just as a symbol of her intelligence, since she was known for her beauty and her intelligence.

By: Sid Morrison

Sid Morrison — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:04:59 +0000

My guess is a Book of Hours, an illuminated prayer book common in the day, especially among wealthy women.

I googled that and found a (long URL!) hit in Google Books that supports this:

books.google.com/books?id=FPsEAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PA14&lpg=RA3-PA14&dq=empress+isabella+%22book+of+hours%22+titian&source=web&ots=h_32IIsCH5&sig=07lPWqICMxarhWnOWq3N1A2Qet8#PRA3-PA14,M1

By: mrs.djs

mrs.djs — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 17:32:31 +0000

It would be cool to know what book she’s holding in her left hand.

By: donner

donner — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:28:18 +0000

While in NYC a few years back, I visited the Pearl exhibition…a pic of this portrait was displayed along w/ the massive drop pearl on the necklace…

turns out, Elizabeth Taylor now owns that pearl (called the Pelegrina) and there was a story about how when she first aquired the pearl, it went missing – only to discover her dog had it in it’s mouth…