Bourdon är representerad vid bland annat Nationalmuseum i Stockholm, men man måste ta sig till Madrid för att se denna målning av drottning Kristina:Sébastien Bourdon, född 2 februari 1616 i Montpellier, död 8 maj 1671 i Paris, var en fransk målare och gravör under barockepoken./.../Åren 1652-53 vistades han i Stockholm som hovmålare och avporträtterade drottning Kristina och medlemmar av hovet. Hans porträttstil är elegant med idealiserande drag i kylig färgskala
Cristina de Suecia a caballo
Eftersom Markus vill antagligen inte göra det själv, så har jag översatt från spanska via Google Translate till engelska, that universal language (som jag tycker ger a fairly readable result, quite unlike till exempel svenska):
" The Queen of Sweden arrived in Antwerp, dressed as a man, on horseback, with a large entourage of her own ... H.M. [Filip IV] now sends him 30 very beautiful and richly dressed horses, many rich things from India, and the Queen many fragrant things ”. Barrionuevo notices, September 9, 1654.
Among European monarchs it was common to give away portraits and send them to the court of those they wished as allies, or even for matrimonial policies. In this case, Queen MĞ Cristina of Sweden gave it to Felipe IV. The queen herself appears on horseback on a spirited steed, portrayed by one of the most disputed painters in the royal courts of the seventeenth century: Sebastián Bourdon. This French Baroque painter has the quality of transmitting the elegance and status of her portrayed, as seen here in the queen, sitting with extreme dignity on her horse, which does not prevent her from capturing a certain smile of sympathy.
The equestrian portrait was itself a representation of power used since Roman Art times. Dressed in gray, Cristina of Sweden is pictured riding a corvette horse, as a symbol of her queen status and of her power in 17th century Europe. The presence of the falconer together with the dogs alludes to her high status, since hunting was an exercise reserved for royalty and aristocracy.
The rumors hypothesized with the possible coming of the sovereign to Spain and that is why Felipe IV will dedicate himself to entertain her, as with the shipment of the thirty horses to which Barrionuevo refers. Although Cristina will never settle in our country, the truth is that between 1655 and 1656 both monarchs will exchange various gifts, Philip IV receiving some of the paintings from the sovereign's collection.
We know that as gratitude for the sending by Felipe IV of the thirty horses to which Barrionuevo referred, Cristina of Sweden sent the monarch a painting of her riding a horse, a work that is currently preserved in the Prado National Museum , and later he had to send him the half-length one that the Prado also keeps, both painted by Sebastian Bourdon.
