Norton Simon Museum
Mariana: Portrait of a Queen
Pasadena, CA • opened 2024

Mariana: Velázquez’s Portrait of a Queen is centered around Diego Velázquez’s extraordinary painting Queen Mariana of Austria (1652–53). The painting is on loan from the Museo Nacional del Prado.

The exhibition explores how the relationship between art and life inspired Velázquez’s dazzling and enigmatic portrait of Mariana but also shaped the worldview of the queen as she created her new political role.

Velázquez’s painting is installed alongside artists whose works were collected by the Habsburg court. The exhibition includes paintings by Nicolas Poussin, Guido Reni and Peter Paul Rubens that evoke Mariana’s access to remarkable works of art, and they invite comparisons between Velázquez and artists he knew and admired.

Red Cape Studio was hired to design the physical layout and structures for the exhibition.