Attributed to Jooris van der Straeten (also known in Spain as Jorge de la Rúa, active between 1552 and 1578)

This work, which had at times been thought to be the work of Antonio Moro (1516/1521-1576), has recently been attributed to Jooris van der Straeten (Jorge de la Rúa, active between 1552 and 1578) thanks to research by the Swiss art historian Annemarie Jordan Gschwend. A Flemish painter, in the circle of Alonso Sánchez Coello (1531/32-1588), he was active in the Spanish court between 1559 and 1573, producing a kind of portrait very much in line with the Habsburg dynasty, to which this oil on canvas clearly belongs.

Made around 1565, when Philip was about forty years old, this painting depicts the king standing with his right hand on his hip while the other is resting on a table covered with crimson velvet. Sitting on the table is a black hat with gold studs matching the doublet he is wearing. The king is dressed in paned trunk hose, white stockings, a shirt and , doublet and a fur-trimmed jerkin with gilded embroidery and buttons. One can also note the hilt of his sword and, as usual, he is wearing the chain of the , rendered with highly precise technique.

From a compositional viewpoint, the painting embodies all the main features of court portraiture, in which the king, solemnly posed, looks directly at the beholder. The artist uses subdued lighting and represents the elements with heightened realism, creating a neutral backdrop that lends all the attention to the figure of the monarch. The result is a work that underscores the simplicity and austerity for which the portraits of the Hapsburgs were known, rendered here with exceptional quality.