page_title: Michael Sittow
section_title: Life
hierarchical_section_title: Michael Sittow / Life
caption_attribution_description: This portrait of an unknown noblewoman from the early 16 century was identified as a young Catherine of Aragon, c. 1500-1505, by Max Jakob Friedländer in 1915, based on comparisons with other paintings by Sittow. (Max J. Friedländer, “Gemäldegalerie. Ein neu erworbenes Madonnenbild im Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum”, Amtliche Berichte aus den Königlichen Kunstammlungen, 36, 9 (1915), pp. 1-4.) This was subsequently challenged by Matthews (Paul G. Matthews, “Henry VIII’s Favourite Sister? Michel Sittow’s Portrait of a Lady in Vienna”, Jahrbuch der Kunsthistorischen Museums Wien 10 (2008), pp. 140-149.), who argued it was Mary Tudor, Henry VIII's sister, painted in 1514. The website of the Kunsthistorische Museum (where the portrait is located) describes this painting as both "Portrait of a princess (Infanta Catharine of Aragon (1485-1536), Queen of England?)" (https://www.khm.at/objektdb/detail/2441) and "Mary Rose Tudor (1496-1533), sister of Henry VIII of England". In the physical gallery the painting is described as Mary Rose Tudor.(http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/katherine-aragon-mary-tudor-the-re-identification-michel-sittows-portrait-young-woman-nasim-tadghighi/#ixzz2Z5IvXtWq)
context_page_description: Michael Sittow, also known as Master Michiel, Michel Sittow, Michiel, Miguel and many other variants, was a painter from Reval who was trained in the tradition of Early Netherlandish painting. For most of his life, Sittow worked as a court portrait painter, for Isabella of Castille, the Habsburgs and others in Spain and the Netherlands. He was one of the most important Flemish painters of the era.
context_section_description: Michael Sittow was born in 1468 or 1469 in Reval to a wealthy family. His father was painter and wood-carver Clawes (Claves, Claes) van der Sittow (Suttow) and his mother was Margarethe Molner. He was the eldest of three brothers, followed by Clawes and Jasper.
  The origins of Clawes van der Sittow (? - 1482) are not clear - he might have originated from the village of Zittow near Wismar or he could have been of Flemish origin. He arrived in Reval in 1454 and became a citizen in 1457. Clawes was a wealthy man for an artist, owning several houses in the city. He became an assessor in the artists' guild in 1479.   Clawes van der Sittow married Margarethe Molner (? - 1501) in 1468. She was a Swedish-speaking Finn and the daughter of a wealthy merchant Olef Mölner (Olef Andersson Mölnare).
  At first Michel Sittow studied painting and sculpture in his father's workshop, while attending the city school to learn Latin, arithmetic and singing. After his father's death in 1482, Michel continued his studies in Bruges from 1484 to 1488. It is thought that he worked as an apprentice in the leading Netherlandish workshop of Hans Memling.
  Michel Sittow became an independent master between 1488 – 1491/92, although he did not become a master in the local Bruges guild. Working as a portrait painter, he travelled in southern Europe, as traits of French and Italian art became apparent in his work.
  From 1492 Sittow worked in Toledo, Spain for Isabella of Castille as court painter. Isabella assembled academicians and painters from several countries to her court.  Sittow became known as Melchior Alemán ("the German") in the court, although letters of Emperor Maximilian and Margaret of Austria speak also of a painter "Mychel Flamenco" ("Michael the Fleming"), who may have been Michael Sittow. Sittow was the highest-paid painter in the queen's court, receiving a salary of 50,000 maravedis a year (Juan de Flandes, the second highest paid artist, received 20,000 maravedis). Sittow collaborated with Juan de Flandes on the series of small panels of the lives of Christ and the Virgin for the queen.
  Officially Sittow worked for Isabella until her death in 1504, although he had left Spain two years before and was presumably working in Flanders for the queen's Habsburg son-in-law Philip the Handsome and daughter-in-law Margaret of Austria, painting a portrait of Philibert the Good, Duke of Savoy.
  Suggestions that Sittow may have visited London in about 1503–05 to paint portraits of Henry VII (National Portrait Gallery, London) are no longer accepted.
  When Philip died in 1506, Sittow lost his patron again. In the same year, he returned to Reval where his stepfather, the glass-maker Diderick van Katwijk had seized his parents' houses, as Michael's mother had died in 1501. Van Katwijk had journeyed to Brabant in 1501 and offered a property settlement to Sittow that the latter refused. As the local court did not support Sittow's claim for inheritance, he had to go to the Court of Higher Instance in Lübeck. He won the case in Lübeck, but could not officially register his parents' houses as his property until the death of his stepfather in 1518.
  In 1507 Michael Sittow joined the Guild of Kanut (German: Kanutigilde, Estonian: Kanuti gild), the local painters' guild and married in 1508. Despite being a renowned master in Europe, Sittow was accepted only as a journeyman and was required to paint a masterpiece before becoming a full master craftsman in the guild. Sittow completed various local orders and worked for the St. Peter's Church in Siuntio, Finland.
  In 1515 Sittow was again in Spain, this time to claim outstanding debts incurred by Isabella of Castile, and it is significant that in the documentation for his claim he is referred to as 'pintor criado de madama la prinçesa doña Margarita', that is the painter of Margaret of Austria. It seems likely that this was the case at least a year earlier. In 1514 Sittow visited Copenhagen, to paint the portrait of Christian II of Denmark. The portrait was part of the diplomacy for the betrothal of Christian II to Marg
caption: Portrait of a noblewoman, possibly Mary Tudor c. 1514 or Catherine of Aragon c. 1500-05
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