Working at the turn of the seventeenth century, the painter Frans Pourbus the Younger (1569-1622) portrayed several members of Europe’s courtly societies. His crisp and intricate portraits responded to the demand for highly symbolic and representational images that intertwined politics, social economics, and notions of status and beauty. Originating from a family of Netherlandish artists his eye was particularly attuned to the representation of his sitters’ dress.

This thesis argues that Pourbus the Younger’s professional trajectory, beginning in the mercantile hub of Antwerp and traversing employment at the courts of Brussels, Mantua, and Paris, traces the role of the portraitist in mediating the social capital of his clients by capturing their manner of dress in a highly detailed way that evoked veracity. The research focuses on works from his employment at the courts of Mantua and Paris.

Working for Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, Pourbus traveled extensively to foreign courts to execute portraits that fostered inter-dynastic alliances involving the Gonzaga. Thus, by portraying foreign princes, Pourbus performed the role of artistic ambassador; his diplomatic representation both reflected Vincenzo Gonzaga’s shrewd artistic patronage and lofty political ambitions. Pourbus’ portraits of the Gonzaga family captured their sumptuous sartorial practices and mirrored their extravagant expenditure on attire. The Gonzagas’ consumption of princely wares and art was recorded in the rich correspondence exchanged between Mantua and its broad network of ambassadors, agents and representatives, of which Pourbus himself was part.

Pourbus’ permanent move to the royal court in Paris coincided with Marie de’ Medici’s coronation as queen in 1610. His depiction of the last crowned queen of France comprises a visual hyperbole of Marie de’ Medici’s monarchic aspirations expressed through the agency of her coronation robes. A rediscovered and unedited manuscript held in the French national archives records the expenditures of the French court for the year 1610 and uncovers the lavish sums allocated to the dressing of all members of Marie de’ Medici’s coronation retinue. Paired with Pourbus’ portraits of the French royal family, the manuscript testifies to his depiction of dress and poses questions on the symbolic and material significance of portraiture; noteworthy when considering portraiture’s negligible material cost in relation to the splendid expense for dress.

By situating this analysis of his work in a dense archival and historical context this study reveals the documentary value of portraiture as sound historical evidence of early modern court culture and societal self-fashioning practices. This thesis intervenes in the study of dress within stately portraiture and expands our understanding of the value of investigating material culture as a tool for broader interdisciplinary historical research.