PHILIP III has an elusive personality. I cannot find
that he was interested in anything but building mon-
asteries and, I believe, in hunting. But the conven-
tions of royalty required that artists should attend
his court, and also that his effigy, with drawn sword,
on a prancing charger, should adorn some public
square. John of Bologna was employed to cast such
a monument in bronze for the Plaza Mayor in
Madrid; and Pantoja de la Cruz painted an eques-
trian portrait to serve the sculptor as a guide. A
king also must fill his palaces with bric-a-brac; and
Juan de Arphe ( 1523-1605), a member of the famous
family of gold- and silver-smiths that filled Spanish
sacristies with pyxes and monstrances, wrought a
lavabo in classical style, encrusted with gold, silver,
and enamel. But there is one circumstance of real
interest connected with this reign: a visit of Peter
Paul Rubens in 1603.

Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, wished for Spanish
support, so he sent Rubens, then in his service, to the
Spanish court with presents for the King and for the
Duke of Lerma. To His Majesty Gonzaga sent a
carriage and horses and eleven arquebuses; to the
Duke, who enjoyed the reputation of an amateur
patron of art, he sent copies of twelve famous por-
traits; and to a lesser favorite, Rodrigo Calderón, two

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