Cruz, Juan Pantoja de la

(c. 1553-1608)

   Spanish painter who studied under Alonso Sánchez Coello, whom he succeeded as court painter to Philip II of Spain. One of Pantoja's portraits of the monarch is housed in the Monastery of San Lorenzo in El Escorial (1570s) and presents him as an aloof full-length figure standing in front of a classicized column in the manner of Coello. Pantoja's portrait of the king's son, Philip III (1608; Castres, Musée Goya), whom he also served, shows the heir to the throne garbed in the mantle and habit of the Order of the Golden Fleece to which he belonged. Again, a full-length figure, he stands against a dark background, his costume and aloofness the symbols of his royalty. This type of portraiture became one of the standards for the depiction of members of the Spanish court.