Empire in Portrait: Mary of Hungary’s “Grande Galerie” and the Transimperial Crafting of Habsburg Identity
Empire in Portrait: Mary of Hungary’s “Grande Galerie” and the Transimperial Crafting of Habsburg Identity

Summary/Abstract: Between 1531 and 1555, Mary of Hungary—governor of the Low Countries (the Habsburg Netherlands) and sister to Emperor Charles V—transformed the grand ceremonial hall at Coudenberg Palace in Brussels, the Grande Galerie (later known as the Galerie des Empereurs), into one of the most politically charged and visually sophisticated court spaces in early modern Europe. She redefined this Great Hall as a multifunctional space serving not only as a monumental portrait gallery but also as a throne room and ceremonial hall where she presided over state affairs. While previous scholarship has referenced the gallery, it is considered in this essay, through comprehensive analysis, as an integrated political, visual, and architectural project. It demonstrates how Mary mobilized artistic patronage, gendered authority, and orchestrated ceremonial performance to assert dynastic legitimacy and female sovereignty. By situating the gallery in a broader transimperial context and linking it to those formed by her sister, Catherine of Austria (1507 – 1578), in Lisbon, the study argues that these galleries were not just displays of likenesses. They were conceived as visual genealogies—maintained through copying, exchange, and replication—and operated as early forms of dynastic musea, living archives, that preserved and strategically deployed Habsburg identity across political and geographic boundaries.

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