Sánchez Coello, Alonso

(c. 1531/1532-1588)

   Spanish painter who specialized in portraiture. Sánchez Coello was court painter to King Philip II and, in that capacity, he was instrumental in laying the foundations for Hapsburg portraiture in Spain. In his works, sitters are set against sparsely furnished interiors, their physiognomies rendered as clearly as the details of their elaborate courtly costumes. Sánchez Coello's interest in detailed representation came from his training with the Flemish master Anthonis Mor. His portrait of the Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia with Magdalena Ruiz (c. 1585— 1588; Madrid, Prado) depicts the king's daughter and her favorite dwarf. In her hand, she displays a cameo of her father to stress her royal lineage, while Magdalena, crouching at the infanta's side in a gesture of submission, holds two pet monkeys. Sánchez Coello also contributed some religious works to the Monastery of San Lorenzo in El Escorial, Philip II's pet project. These include Sts. Stephen and Lawrence (1580) and the Martyrdom of Sts. Justus and Pastor (1582— 1583), both still in the monastery. Sánchez Coello's emphasis on detailing, also present in these works, provided a contrast to Juan Fernández de Navarrete's Italianate paintings at the same site.