The Prado and the Rijksmuseum Turn to the Habsburg Women
Madrid and Amsterdam have formed a research alliance on women in art and power, with an exhibition planned for 2029.
Two of Europe's great old-master collections are pooling their archives. Madrid's Museo del Prado and Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum have announced a strategic alliance to study women's roles in art and history, with a focus on the Habsburg era that Spain and the Netherlands share.
The centerpiece is an international postdoctoral fellowship. Applications open this month, and the program starts in September 2027, giving the chosen researcher access to both museums' collections and archives. The partnership will also hold a series of expert meetings. It will culminate in a major exhibition at the Rijksmuseum in 2029, in which the fellow will play an active role.
Matronage, not only patronage
The project looks beyond women as painters to women as patrons and rulers. The Art Newspaper notes that Margaret of Austria, Mary of Hungary and Margaret of Parma together governed the Low Countries for almost 60 years. Mary of Hungary owned Titian's equestrian Emperor Charles V at Mühlberg and commissioned his Four Furies for her palace at Binche. "I think we will make matronage one of the key words in the exhibition," said Marion Anker, co-chair of the Rijksmuseum's women in art program.
Both museums have been working along these lines for some time. The Prado's "El Prado en femenino" has brought attention to painters such as Clara Peeters and Sofonisba Anguissola. Since 2021, the Rijksmuseum's own program has added works by Gesina ter Borch and Maria van Oosterwijck to its catalog. "It is not just about showing more women artists," the museums said, "it is about changing the way we look at art history."
For collectors and regular museum visitors, this is a long-range project, and the 2029 show in Amsterdam is worth noting now.
Sources: Euronews, The Art Newspaper.
