Mor van Dashorst, Anthonis

(Antonio Moro; c. 1517-1577)

   Dutch painter, known primarily for his skill as portraitist. Anthonis Mor was born in Utrecht where he was trained by Jan van Scorel. In c. 1545, he moved to Antwerp where he entered the guild two years later. By 1549, he was working in Brussels, and, in 1550, he traveled to Italy. For the rest of his career he worked primarily for the Hapsburgs in England, Spain, Portugal, and Germany. His portrait Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, Bishop of Arras (1549; Vienna, Kunsthistorisches Museum), counselor to Margaret of Austria, shows his mature style. The work owes particular debt to the portraits of Titian in that the figure is presented in three-quarter length against an undefined background glancing confidently at the viewer and wearing an elaborate costume with particular emphasis on the various textures. He leans on a desk and holds a letter in his hand, denoting the official nature of the portrait. Other portraits by Mor of note are his Fernando Alvarez de Toledo, Third Duke of Alba (1549; New York, The Hispanic Society of America), Spanish general and later governor of the Netherlands; Queen Mary Tudor of England (1554; Madrid, Prado), wife of Philip II; and Thomas Gresham (1564; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum), a representative of the English crown in the Netherlands. His standing portrait Philip II in Armor (1557; El Escorial, Monasterio de San Lorenzo) is one of the works that set the standard for Hapsburg portraiture in Spain.