spanishbaroqueart:Anthony van DyckPortrait of Polissena Spinola, Marquise of Leganés; c. 1622
spanishbaroqueart:Anthony van DyckPortrait of Polissena Spinola, Marquise of Leganés; c. 1622-27Museo Nacional del Prado (P01493)Polissena’s father was Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Duke of Sesto, 1st Marquis of Los Balbases and Grandee of Spain, a Genoese aristocrat who served as a Spanish Captain-General winning a number of important battles for the Spanish Crown. She moved from her native Genoa to Madrid to become a lady-in-waiting to Queen Isabel in 1622, where she married Diego Felipe de Guzmán in 1628. Guzmán, the 1st Marquis of Leganés, was the captain of the Spanish cavalry and artillery in the Low Countries and also sat for Van Dyck, one of his favorite painters. Polissena took care of the Leganés vast art collection during her husband’s military missions, and became a generous patroness of the arts and literature. -- source link