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This major foundation of the Spanish House of Austria in Madrid was an integral part of daily court life. Numerous women from the Habsburg dynasty joined it as Poor Clare nuns – including Sister Margaret of Austria, Sister Catherine d’Este, and Sister Anne Dorothea of ​​Austria. They transformed the monastery into a key center for the reception of other members of the royal family, ambassadors, papal nuncios and other court figures who sought intercession with the king.  

The monastery was founded by Joanna of Austria, daughter of Charles V and sister of Philip II, who amassed a large part of her art collection at the monastery, where we can still view some of her Flemish treasures, such as the Virgin of the Parrot by Adriaen Isenbrant, the small Polyptych of the Passion of Christ by Marcellus Coffermans, and the Holy Family Surrounded by Musical Angels by the Master of Hoogstraten. The monastery’s portrait gallery of members of the House of Austria was renowned, and several paintings by the Northern Netherlandish painters Anthonis Mor and Joris van Straeten, and by the Spanish artist Alonso Sánchez Coello, can still be viewed there.  

The Empress Maria and her daughter Sister Margaret of Austria (of the Cross) also boosted the Flemish collections, with acquisitions such as the portraits of Archdukes Albert and Isabella Clara Eugenia by Frans Pourbus and the magnificent Baptism of Christ by Gaspar de Crayer.  

Carmen García-Frías Checa, Curator of Old Painting-Patrimonio Nacional (December 2025)

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