Design for the Tomb of Isabella of Austria

When Elizabeth, the young queen of Denmark in exile and sister of Emperor Charles V, died in 1526, her husband, Christian II, commissioned Gossaert to design a tomb and an epitaph for a church in Ghent, where she was buried. The definitive tomb (destroyed in the late 16th century) was much simpler, and this elegant and elaborate design in Renaissance style must have been the artist's original project. Its intricateness may have surpassed the ability of the tomb's sculptors as well as Christian's financial means, which were depleted by his effort to regain his kingdom. Whereas the reclining fig... Mehr ...