The painting shows the Archduke as a collector pointing with his cane towards a few paintings propped against each other on the floor. Behind him is the artist wearing a gold chain and sword, the attributes of honor for his role as gallery director for the archduke. Above the door is a portrait of another patron of the artist, King Philip IV of Spain, and behind the large paintings on the right is a bust on a pedestal of Queen Christina of Sweden. On the left behind the table is an assistant holding a print. The table foot has been documented as a creation of the sculptor Adriaen de Vries depicting Ganymede. The paintings are arranged in rows on the walls, and is one of the paintings that David Teniers the Younger prepared to document the Archduke's collection before he employed 12 engravers to publish his Theatrum Pictorium, considered the "first illustrated art catalog". He published this book of engravings after the Archduke had moved to Austria and taken his collection with him. It was published in Antwerp in 1659 and again in 1673.[2]
In her catalog raisonné of Teniers' works, Margret Klinge dates this painting after 1654 because in the similar gallery painting dated 1653 his portrait does not show the keys, chain, and sword that he is shown wearing in the portrait by Philips Fruytiers dated 1655. Furthermore, the painting of The Three Philosophers and several other Italian paintings are painted in mirror image, which may indicate that he was working from his miniature copy rather than the original, which would have been a necessity after the Archduke left Brussels with his collection to return to Vienna in 1656.
The following is a list of the recognizable paintings of the collection, not all of which were included in the Italian catalog prepared by Teniers, which was a selection of 243 of the most prized paintings out of a collection of 1300-1400 pieces. Many are still in the Viennese collection. Here is a list of the paintings depicted, which starts with the paintings at the top left, running from left to right and from top to bottom and continuing in the same way with the rear wall on the right.
image | article | painter | year | collection | inventory nr. | catalog code | The Three Philosophers | Giorgione | 1500s | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_111 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n48/mode/1up 20] |
Man with Ermine Coat | Titian | 1560 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_76 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n184/mode/1up 95] |
Portrait of Jacopo Strada | Titian | 1567 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_81 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n178/mode/1up 92] |
Judith with the head of Holofernes | Carlo Saraceni | 1613 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_41 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n86/mode/1up 39] |
Christ carrying the cross meets Veronica | Jacopo Bassano | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n286/mode/1up 144] |
Dead Christ Supported by an Angel | Palma il Giovane | 1612 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_9394 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n356/mode/1up 179] |
Aeneas Takes Leave of Dido | Andrea Schiavone | 1555 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_5818 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n268/mode/1up 135] |
King Philip IV of Spain | unknown | 1653 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_324 |
Lady with an Ermine | Titian | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n182/mode/1up 94] |
Portrait of a Man with Beret | anonymous | 1538 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_1552 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n112/mode/1up 56] |
Portrait of a White-Bearded Man | Tintoretto | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_25 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n202/mode/1up 103] |
Portrait of Francesco Donato, Doge of Venice | anonymous | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_3062 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n192/mode/1up 98] |
The Orator Giovan Pietro Maffeis (?) (1533-1603) | Giovanni Battista Moroni | 1563 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_88 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n450/mode/1up 230] |
Portrait of a Lady | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n448/mode/1up 229] |
An Allegory of Spring | David Teniers the Younger | 1656 | private collection | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n322/mode/1up 163] |
Arrest of Christ | Bartolomeo Manfredi | 1615 | National Museum of Western Art | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n456/mode/1up 234] |
Pluto in his Chariot | anonymous | 1536 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_157 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n60/mode/1up 26] |
Ganymede | Jan Swart van Groningen | 1560 | private collection | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n34/mode/1up 11] |
Boy with a Flute | Francesco Bassano the Younger | 1583 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_8 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n296/mode/1up 150] |
Holy Family with St. John and Mary Magdalene | Palma Vecchio | 1520 | Uffizi | 950 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n402/mode/1up 205] |
Saint Jerome | Dosso Dossi | 1620s | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_263 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n452/mode/1up 232] |
Jupiter nurtured by Amalthea | Andrea Schiavone | 1544 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_1991 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n254/mode/1up 128] |
Blind leading the Blind | Domenico Fetti | 1620s | Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden | 422 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n424/mode/1up 215] |
Saints George and Cecilia (after Antonello da Messina) | David Teniers the Younger | 1656 | Courtauld Gallery | P.1978.PG.439 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n24/mode/1up 6] |
Adoration of the Magi | Jacopo Bassano | 1555 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_361 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n302/mode/1up 153] |
Cain Kills Abel | Bartolomeo Manfredi | c 1600 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_363 |
Lamentation with angels | Palma il Giovane | 1610s | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_1546 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n388/mode/1up 198] |
Madonna of the Cherries | Titian | 1516 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_118 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n120/mode/1up 62] |
Raising the Young Man of Nain | Paolo Veronese | 1560s | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_52 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n244/mode/1up 124] |
Saint Margaret and the Dragon | Raphael | 1518 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_171 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n16/mode/1up 2] |
Carrying Lazarus | Pordenone | before 1551 | Prague Castle Picture Gallery | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n215/mode/1up 110] |
Hero mourns the dead Leander | Domenico Fetti | 1622 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_160 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n428/mode/1up 217] |
The Bravo | Titian | 1520 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_64 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n54/mode/1up 23] |
Descent from the Cross | Tintoretto | 1547 | Kunsthistorisches Museum | GG_1565 | [https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911#page/n212/mode/1up 109] |
1. ^[https://rkd.nl/explore/images/57564 Interieur van het schilderijenkabinet van aartshertog Leopold te Brussel met de Italiaanse schilderijen, na 1656] in the RKD
2. ^[https://archive.org/stream/gri_33125009347911 Online version] of the Theatrum Pictorium, 1673