Queen Christina of Sweden (1626 - 1689)

Christina ruled over an expansive superpower. There are several details in this portrait of her that point to interests far beyond Sweden’s borders: the shimmering silk, the citrus blossoms in her hair, and the idealized landscape that fades away in the distance. The rich folds of the dress, the elegant turn of the body, and the sense of capturing the fleeting moment—she is just looking up from reading a letter—were highly fashionable elements in portraiture at the time. The artist was, after all, trained in London by Anthony van Dyck, the leading portraitist of the Baroque.