Maria Magdalena of Austria
1666; published 1761
Medium
Engraving on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Plate: 35.2 × 24.9 cm (13 7/8 × 9 13/16 in.); Sheet: 42.7 × 32.3 cm (16 13/16 × 12 3/4 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
183080
Art Historical Context
This engraving by Dutch printmaker Adriaen Haelwegh portrays Maria Magdalena of Austria, a prominent Habsburg noblewoman who became Grand Duchess of Tuscany through her marriage to Cosimo II de’ Medici. Created in 1666 and later published in 1761, the work captures the formal dignity expected of seventeenth-century court portraiture, presenting its subject with the composed elegance befitting her rank. Haelwegh’s chosen medium—engraving on ivory laid paper—allowed the image to circulate widely across Europe at a time when painted portraits remained accessible only to the elite. The precise li...