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We know from a letter of 30 June 1553 from the Spanish Ambassador in Venice that Titian was waiting for instructions from the emperor to paint a panel of Our Lady the same as the Ecce Homo which Your Majesty has. This painting was completed in 1554 and can be identified with The Virgin Dolorosa with her Hands joined (P443). In another letter of 1554 there is a reference to another Virgin Dolorosa
Christ´s dead body is taken off the Cross by Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus and Saint John the Evangelist. Among the people at his feet are the Virgin Mary, the mother of Joseph —also called Mary— as well as Salomé and Mary Magdalene, who raises her arms as a sign of her suffering. The good and bad thieves are crucified on trees. This scene follows the New Testament story of the Jesus´ desc
A posthumous portrait of Felipe II wearing full body armor, a cape and a hat and riding a horse. Victory crowns him with laurels. The background alludes to a battle, probably that of San Quentín in 1557.Inspired by the knightly ideas of the sixteenth century, this portrait is based on representations of Roman emperors that circulated on Flemish and Italian prints, as well as an image of Car
John Frederick I of Saxony (Torgau, 30 June 1503–Jena, 3 March 1554), Duke of Saxony-Wittenberg from 1532, was the principal defender of Luther, a fact that brought him into conflict with Charles V. In 1546 these differences resulted in an armed conflict that culminated at Mühlberg on 24 April 1547 when the Imperial army defeated the Schmalkaldic League and captured its leaders, John Frederic
Philip II (r. 1556-98) was Titian´s most important patron, and together they forged one of the most fruitful artistic relationships of the European Renaissance. Philip surpassed all of the Venetian painter´s previous patrons both in the number of commissions and in their variety. Unlike his father, Emperor Charles V (r. 1519-56), Philip was not satisfied with only portraits and devotional works; h
The doubts that existed regarding the dating of this work were increased when the sitter was identified. He is documented from 1544 in the accounts of Prince Philip (later Philip II) as Pero Hernández de la Cruz, known as Perejón, one of the two ‘Pericos’ whose role at Court was to amuse the prince. The inventory of the Alcázar in Madrid of 1636 confirms this identification th
Joanna, the daughter of Charles V and Isabella of Portugal was born in 1535, and later married her cousin Joao Manuel, prince of Brazil. On the death of her husband in 1554, and having soon after given birth to their son, Don Sebastián, she left Portugal and returned to Spain, where she died in 1573.
In this half-length portrait, the lady is wearing a dark brown velvet overdress luxuriously ornamented with gold chain-stitched embroidery, slit sleeves, and a high collar open in front in the Flemish style. This is a notable example of Spanish portraiture during the reign of Philip II. To begin with, it is painted on a finegrained reddish tropical wood, mahogany perhaps, a support that was quite
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
This three-quarters portrait is especially direct, thanks to the absence of any background elements other than the model´s powerful shadow. It presents don Sebastian (1554-1580) in the final years of his brief life, dressed in the Spanish style, with a black jerkin and matching cape that bring out the sumptuousness of his breeches and doublet, embroidered in gold on a white background. To convey h
Joanna of Austria (1535-73) was the daughter of Emperor Charles V, and sister of King Philip II of Spain. In 1552, she married her first cousin, the Portuguese Prince John Manuel (Joao Manuel). The prince died in January 1554, days before Joanna gave birth to their son, Sebastian, who would become King of Portugal from 1568 to 1578. In July 1554, Joanna returned to Spain to serve as regent in the
In the eighteenth century this unidentified lady was thought to be the Empress Isabel, wife of Carlos V. She was later groundlessly associated with Maria of Portugal, whom Mor portrait in 1552 while she was engaged to Felipe II. The latter broke off the engagement to marry Mary Tudor. This more than half-length portrait is of great technical quality. The feminine face, with its reserved expression
The first Poesie presented to Prince Philip were Danaë (1553, The Wellington Collection) and Venus and Adonis (1554, Museo del Prado, P422), versions of other previous works, but endowed with all the prestige of the commissioning party. In turn, these works became models for numerous replicas (Danaë receiving the Golden Rain, 1560-65, Museo del Prado, P425).Danaë depicts the moment
On a number of occasions, Peter Paul Rubens partially overpainted finished pictures. He did this to paintings by his own hand, such as Nymphs and Satyrs (P1666), which he retouched and enlarged twenty years after he first painted it. He also made changes to drawings and paintings by other artists that he owned. This painting is an example of such reworking, albeit in a radical mode that changed th
This more-than-half-length portrait presents a boy dressed in black with a white shirt. He rests his left hand on his waist while holding his gloves in his right. A gold chain around his neck is matched by another at his waist that bears a sword with a gilded hilt. It has been suggested that this panel may represent François, Duke of Alençon (b. 1554, d. 1584), son of Henri II of Fra
La retratada, con varias sortijas y un collar de perlas, sujeta en la mano izquierda un monóculo o anteojo monocular provisto de manilla. Este ejemplar es de mayor nobleza de lo habitual, por la lujosa montura que lo engarza para sostenerlo en la mano. Estos instrumentos eran usados para corregir defectos de visión, especialmente presbicia, y eran de uso mayoritariamente femenino. La utilización d
Charles V commissioned The Glory from Titian during their meeting in Augsburg in 1550-51. The painting was completed in October 1554 and was sent to Brussels. The unusual composition, which must correspond to precise instructions on the part of the emperor, as Gronau noted, is presided over by the Trinity, with the Virgin and behind her Saint John the Baptist -theologically the two principal inter
La obra representa a Pedro de Medici (1554-1604), hijo de Cosme I que mantuvo estrechos vínculos con España, estando presente en Madrid durante los reinados de Felipe II y Felipe III. La identificación del personaje parece confirmarse por el enorme parecido del retratado en la obra del Museo del Prado con el que de don Pedro conserva la Galería de los Uffizi, debido a Santi de Tito y fechado entre
