Margaret of Austria (1480-1530) lived a pretty extraordinary life - once jilted, twice married and widowed, she was appointed regent and gouvernante of the Netherlands by her father Maximilian I and nephew Charles V, both Holy Roman Emperors. This was a powerful role for any woman in the period, which she fulfilled while also amassing an impressive art collection and acting as guardian to her nieces and nephew (she had no children of her own). Her personal motto was both an excellent pun and a statement of strength through good fortune and adversity: fortune infortune fort une. I just might adopt it for myself. Also, we should bring personal mottoes back.
Despite the fascinating adult life she lived, my research focused on three portrait diptychs from her childhood, which depicted her with her brother Philip the Fair. (Side note: we should also consider bringing back epithets.) Diptychs usually portrayed married couples or religious subjects, so the fact that these depict siblings makes them extremely unusual objects, and unique to their period as far as we can tell. The first one dated from the time of Margaret's betrothal to the future king of France, aged three (political expediency knows no age limit). Margaret's portrait was likely painted as a confirmation of the match, but connecting her image with the portrait of Philip served as a reminder of the Burgundian family line that Charles was marrying into.