Mary (1505–1558), Queen of Hungary

?The House of Orange; ?The House of Hohenzollern (inherited by the family from the House of Orange in the 17th century); ?Wilhelm II of Germany, Schloss Oranienburg, near Berlin (in 1907); [Hugo L. Moser, Berlin, by 1933–1957]; [Hugo Moser and Paul Drey Gallery, New York, 1957–59; sale, Christie's, London, June 26, 1959, no. 95, as by Jan Cornelisz van Vermeyen, for £1,800]; Mr. and Mrs. Jack Linsky, New York (1959–his d. 1980); The Jack and Belle Linsky Foundation, New York (1980–82)

Berlin. Preussische Akademie der Künste. "Exhibition of Paintings from the Collection of Emperor Wilhelm II," 1907.

Rotterdam. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. "Jereon Bosch: Noord Nederlandsche Primitieven," July 10–October 15, 1936, no. 125 (as by Jan Cornelisz. Vermeyen, lent by H. Moser).

Detroit Institute of Arts. "Loan Exhibition of Early Dutch Paintings," February 1944, no. 27 (as by Jan Vermeyen, lent by Hugo L. Moser).

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. "Five Centuries of Dutch Art," March 9–April 9, 1944, no. 21 (as by Jan Vermeyen, lent by Hugo L. Moser, New York).

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT, BY TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.

Gustav Glück. "Bildnisse aus dem Hause Habsburg. I. Kaiserin Isabella." Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, n.s., 7 (1933), p. 196.

Gustav Glück. "Bildnisse aus dem Hause Habsburg. II. Königin Maria von Ungarn." Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, n.s., 8 (1934), pp. 178–80, fig. 92, calls it identical with, or at least a first rate repetition of, the portrait of Mary of Hungary painted by Vermeyen in 1530.

Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Loan Exhibition of Early Dutch Paintings 1460–1540. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, February 1944, pp. 7, 15, no. 27, states erroneously that this portrait was mentioned in a 1524 inventory of the contents of Margaret of Austria's palace at Malines.

Marianne Takács. "Un nouveau portrait de la reine Marie de Hongrie a la Galerie des Maîtres Anciens." Bulletin de Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts 7 (1955), pp. 38–40, fig. 26, as painted by Vermeyen in Augsburg in 1530.

Guy C. Bauman in The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1984, pp. 80–81, no. 26, ill.

From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Ed. Maryan W. Ainsworth and Keith Christiansen. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1998, p. 410, ill.

Susan Urbach. Early Netherlandish Paintings. London, 2015, vol. 2, pp. 93, 95 n. 6, under no. 34, p. 170, fig. 40.4 (color), under no. 40.

Mary of Hungary was the fourth daughter and youngest child of Philip the Fair and Joanna the Mad, and the sister of the Holy Roman Emperors Charles V and Ferdinand I. She was married, at the age of nine, to Louis II Jagellon, who became king of Bohemia and Hungary the following year, in 1516. Her husband was killed in 1526 in an equestrian accident fleeing a losing battle against the Turks. In 1531 she succeeded her aunt, Margaret of Austria, as regent of the Netherlands, remaining a widow until she died.

In 1530, Jan Vermeyen was sent by Margaret of Austria to Augsburg and Innsbruck to paint portraits of Charles V, Ferdinand I and his wife Anna of Hungary, and Mary of Hungary. Gustav Glück (1933, 1934) believed the present picture to be identical with, or "at least a first-rate repitition of," the portrait of Mary painted by Vermeyen in 1530, and his suggestion is followed by Marianne Takács (1955). Because of the portrait's condition, it is difficult to accept without reservation the notion that it is identical with the original. Max Friedländer (1934), in a cautiously worded certification, gives recognition to Glück's suggestion and then defers to his soon to be published volume of Die Altniederländische Malerei, in which he treats Vermeyen's work (see Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. 12, 1975, p. 89). All he writes there concerning these portraits is the following: "These were probably copied in his workshop many times and copies of various degrees of merit have turned up. They all display Vermeyen's characteristic style."

The picture is in poor condition and heavily restored. Although the face is moderately well preserved, there are large inpainted areas of paint loss elsewhere, particularly on the backs of both the hands, and extensive repainting in the wimple. Nothing of the painting's original support can be detected. The picture appears to have been transferred from panel to canvas and then retransferred to its present cradled plywood support. It is apparent from a break in the paint surface that runs across the shoulders that the original panel was joined horizontally. It is also apparent that it had a shaped top; the upper corners were cut diagonally.