Isabella I of Castile: "the Catholic"

This portrait is a little over half-length and shows Queen Isabella the Catholic wearing a bodice fastened with a drop pearl brooch and a white shirt embroidered with eagles (the coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies), castles, and lions (the coat of arms of Castile and León). Her head is covered with a cap and a fine, transparent veil fastened to her chest by a cross crosslet pearl brooch, from which hangs a scallop that may have been a reliquary.

The painting is one of a pair, the other being a portrait of her husband King Ferdinand II of Aragon. Both works came into the Naval Museum collection in 1854 from the former Royal Museum of Painting and Sculpture, now the Prado Museum.

Although some researchers believe they are copies of portraits by Juan de Flandes, court painter to the Catholic Monarchs, the creator and exact provenance of both works is yet to be proven.