The Female Artistic Universe
The enlightened court of Isabella I of Castile, established during the reign of John II and maintained by her daughters and closest relatives, bore a significant feminine imprint that has not been sufficiently addressed by historiography. In this project, we aim to emphasize this theme and explore women's contributions to the patrimonial management of their own and their families' estates, the codification of visual strategies with pietistic or political undertones, and their particular affinity for certain themes or resources that became hallmarks of feminine identity.
The project proposes the inclusion of gender in two ways:
- The study of the female monastic sphere, through anonymous figures or individuals such as Leonor de Mendoza, daughter of the Marquis of Santillana and Abbess of Santa María de las Huelgas in Burgos. This constitutes a line of inquiry already initiated by one of the project's principal investigators, Miquel: "The Silent Voice. Women of the House of Mendoza," Ars Longa. Cuadernos de Arte, 30, 2021, pp. 51-68. https://doi.org/10.7203/arslonga.30.18153. This also constitutes a vector of research by López Montilla, a member of the project team, as reflected in her doctoral thesis, currently in the publication phase: Praying in Solitude: The Psalter in Medieval Female Devotion (La Ergástula, 2024).
- The reinterpretation of the Polyptych of Isabella I of Castile as a kind of personal and political biography of the Trastámara monarch. This topic, novel in its approach, was initiated by one of the project's principal investigators, O. Pérez Monzón, with an initial publication on the subject [Some Tablets Kept in a Wardrobe: Female Devotion, Politics, and Territoriality in the Polyptych of Isabella I of Castile, Archivo Español de Arte, 384 (2023), https://doi.org/10.3989/aearte.2023.49], which will be further developed within the framework of the project.
- Highlighting the contributions of noblewomen close to the royal court, an idea identified in the previous project (NARRAS). Several names are linked to the Mendoza lineage, such as Mencía de Mendoza, daughter of the Marquis of Santillana, a key figure in the visual presentation of the lineage in the city of Burgos, in conjunction with her brother, the powerful Pedro González de Mendoza.
We will address this particular family project within the framework of this larger project. We will also examine the figure of María de Luna, Duchess of the Infantado by marriage, and the mastermind behind the family's strategy of vindication, utilizing the educational and visual resources of her in-laws. This intricate process underscores the capabilities and resources of these lesser-known female members of the family. Based on previous studies carried out by the two PIs of the project (Between imagery, brocades, colors, brushes and the new art. María de Luna's female artistic patronage and paternal memory, E-Spania, 2016 URL: https://espania.revues.org/25527;DOI:10.4000/e-spania.25527), we will delve into the individual value of this figure and, in parallel, into her exemplary value in understanding the artistic universe from a female perspective.
Texts and images © Cortes Tardogóticas /Authors