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The period between 1530 and 1533 was crucial for the formulation of the image of Charles V. The image that ultimately proved most influential was invented by Jacob Seisenegger who painted five full-length portraits of Charles V between 1530 and 1532, creating a totally innovative typology for the depiction of the Emperor but one that had numerous precedents in German art (Cranach, Strigel, Amberge
This portrait commemorates Charles V’s victory over the Schmalkaldic League at Mühlberg on 24 April 1547. The Emperor is equipped in the manner of the light cavalry with a half pike and wheel-lock pistol. His suit of armour was made around 1545 by Desiderius Helmschmid and has an image of the Virgin and Child on the breastplate, as was customary with Charles’ armour from 1531. Panofsky pointe
The literary source for the Furies is Ovid´s Metamorphoses (IV, 447-464) and Virgil´s Aeneid (VI, 457-8), which recounts the eternal sufferings in Hades of Tityus, whose liver was devoured by a vulture as a punishment for having raped Latona; Tantalus, condemned to try to reach food and drink in vain for having killed and cooked his son Pelops as a banquet for the gods; Sisyphus, founder and king
Philip II was Titian’s most important patron, and the pair’s artistic relationship was one of the most fecund of the Renaissance. They met twice while Philip was still a prince, in Milan (December 1548-January 1549) and Augsburg (November 1550-1551), and Titian painted the prince’s portrait on both occasions. On 29 January 1549 Philip paid the painter 1000 escudos for certain portraits he paints a
In his Metamorphoses Ovid recounts the torments of the Giant Tityus, whose punishment for having attempted to rape the goddess Leto was to have two vultures devouring his continually regenerating liver for eternity. This work is Titian´s own late repetition of the original, painted by him for Mary of Hungary as part of a series of Furies. It was conceived as a warning for those who dared to challe
A bust of the Roman emperor, Antoninus Pius (86-161 A.D.), of a type set by the government itself from the moment he took power. This type of portrait went essentially unchanged during his entire reign. This monumental head of the long-lived Roman emperor has various modern additions. The hair and beard are based on depictions of his adoptive father, the Emperor Hadrian, but the face has individua
In 1562 and 1565 Philip II commissioned the Bonanome brothers to execute two series of busts of the “Twelve Emperors” of whom Suetonius wrote biographies. The monarch was not satisfied with the busts and had them sent to the gardens of the Casa de Campo in Madrid in 1571. This monumental head of Nero reproduces with slight variations the last portrait of the notorious emperor (54-68 AD).
This bust -bronze (head) and coloured marble (bust)-, bequeathed to Philip III by Count Ernst of Mansfeld, Governor of the Low Countries, was in the castle of La Fontaine in Luxembourg until 1608. Thought there to depict Antoninus Pius, the subject is in fact the Roman Emperor, Hadrian (76-138AD). Five bronze portraits of this type are known, all attributed to Lombardo who based his design on an o
Following the instructions of the Emperor Hadrian, Lucius Verus (130-169 AD) and Marcus Aurelius were adopted in the year 138 by Hadrian’s successor Antoninus Pius. Lucius, who was co-emperor with his brother (161-69 AD), was known in Rome for his licentious lifestyle. He was a renowned general, celebrated for his victories in the East, where he died of the plague. This bust may have been a diplom
