Do we know the princesses?

"The king and queen arrived in Trento at the end of summer 1536. Long and mild days offered Ferdinand of Habsburg and Anne of Bohemia and Hungary an advantageous time for the wide tour that took them to the territories south of the Alps, extreme southern areas of the Empire. Coming from Bolzano and on their way to Carinthia, they stopped in the capital of the small Prince-Bishopric of Trento, not only for economic reasons, but also for a privileged bond with Prince-Bishop Bernardo Cles who, for years, had combined the government of Trentino with important tasks in imperial politics".

With this poetic approach, curator Lia Camerlengo starts her essay entitled "Le figlie di Ferdinando I d’Asburgo. Un dipinto di Jakob Seisenegger a Trento" (The daughters of Ferdinand I of Habsburg. A painting by Jakob Seisenegger in Trento), which looks in depth at the idea and subjects of the exhibition "The return of the Princesses. A painting by Jakob Seisenegger", which can be visited until 8 March at the Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento.

The exhibition focuses on the portrait of the five daughters of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. Executed in 1534 by the celebrated royal artist Jakob Seisenegger, the painting shows Elisabetta, Anna, Maria, Maddalena, Caterina - the youngest is one year old, the eldest eight - playing while dressed in sophisticated clothes, unaware of their destiny. 

The painting, along with other portraits of members of the house of Habsburg, used to decorate the private apartments of the Prince-Bishop Bernardo Cles.

Here's a recent video that let us get to know the young pretty princesses.