Mary of Hungary. Art & Power in the Renaissance

With Charles V’s rule over a large part of Europe weakening, it became important to secure Philip II’s succession. Here the emperor’s sister Mary of Hungary emerged as a strategist from the very outset, devising and implementing a veritable propaganda programme, including a tour to present the heir to the throne, that would have a lasting impact on art and the dividing lines between European territories. The exhibition in Mariemont, where she owned a hunting estate, presents the exciting episodes of an imperial succession in which the greater and lesser history of the Renaissance was played out.