Mary of Modena
Willem Wissing
between 1685 and 1687
Mary of Modena was the queen consort to James II. Her luxuriant costume would once have been more dazzling; the brilliant blue dress has turned gray with time. Wissing added a salmon-crested cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis), a bird indigenous to the Moluccas in modern Indonesia. The queen toys with the bird’s wing, suggesting that it may have been a favorite pet. It both heightens the natural beauty of the subjects but also demonstrates the sitter’s association with the East India Company, which spearheaded the expansion of Britain’s commercial and colonial interests in South East Asia.
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven · Image: Yale Center for British Art, Public domain · Text: Yale Center for British Art, CC0