SILVIA Z. MITCHELL

Silvia Z. Mitchell is an associate professor of history at Purdue University and a historian of queens, courts, and power in Renaissance and early modern Europe. Her work connects art and architectural history, queenship and court studies, and gender studies with political, diplomatic, and international history.

Her book Queen, Mother, and Stateswoman: Mariana of Austria and the Government of Spain reinterprets the political authority of a queen who governed the Spanish monarchy during her son’s childhood. Its expanded, illustrated Spanish edition, Reina, madre y estadista, was published by the Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica. She also co-edited Ibero-Dutch Imperial Entanglements in the Seventeenth Century with Erica Heinsen-Roach.

Mitchell has lectured at the Norton Simon Museum and the Museo del Prado and participated in the Prado’s documentary on Mariana of Austria. Her public lectures connect royal portraits, palaces, and family relationships with the decisions that shaped European and global history. She speaks in English and Spanish.

Her current books explore the Spanish Habsburgs as a ruling family and the life of Marie-Thérèse of Austria, infanta of Spain and queen of France.

For a complete list of publications and academic activities, download my CV.