Portret van Magdalena Sibylla van Saksen, kroonprinses van Denemarken 1643 - 1652

This is a print of Magdalena Sibylla of Saxony, Crown Princess of Denmark, made by Albert Haelwegh. Prints such as these functioned as publicity in the seventeenth century, when the circulation of reproducible images helped to consolidate political power. The inscriptions in the print communicate the sitter’s high status and multiple titles. What might otherwise seem like a neutral likeness, becomes, in this context, an assertion of dynastic authority. Haelwegh worked in Denmark, a small kingdom that depended on strategic alliances. Notice how Magdalena Sibylla is adorned with jewels, pearls, and elaborate textiles, visual markers that associate her with the wealth and might of the Danish monarchy. To better understand this image, we can consult sources such as genealogies and other records of the Danish royal family, in order to learn more about the role this woman played in her time, and the reasons why her image was circulated so widely. The history of art is, in this case, bound to institutional history.