Queen María Cristina (Maria Christina of Austria)

Maria Christina of Austria (1858-1929), second wife and consort of King Alfonso XII of Spain. Daughter of Archduke Karl Ferdinand and Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria. Became Queen consort upon her marriage in 1879; was pregnant with her son, King Alfonso XIII, when her husband died in 1885, which marked the beginning of her regency, the longest in the history of Spain. Was an effective and tactful regent whose political reforms helped maintain peace and stability in Spain, but her reign also saw the loss of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines as the result of the Spanish-American War (1898). Stepped down in 1902, when Alfonso XIII came of age.

Figure 2.1. Joaquín Sorolla y Bastida, Retrato de la reina Cristina, 1888, Sociedad Estatal Correos y Telégrafos, S.A., S.M.E., Madrid, source: Iberdrola Arte.

1870s

Dress with two bodices, 1879

Evening bodice

Figure 2.2. Fernando Debas (Spanish), Portrait of Queen Maria Cristina, n.d., source: Pinterest.

Figure 2.3. G & E Spitzer (Austrian), Bodice of purple silk damask suit, 1879, Museo del Traje, Madrid, CE000416A, source: Ceres.

Figure 2.4. G & E Spitzer (Austrian), Purple silk damask evening ensemble, 1879, Museo del Traje, Madrid, CE000416A and CE000416B, source: Ministerio de Cultura y Deporte.

Day bodice

Figure 2.5. G & E Spitzer (Austrian), Purple silk damask day ensemble, 1879, Museo del Traje, Madrid, CE000417 and CE000416B, source: Ceres.

Figure 2.6. G & E Spitzer (Austrian), Purple silk damask day ensemble, 1879, Museo del Traje, Madrid, CE000417 and CE000416B, source: Ceres.

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