Voces del Prado

Two men of power

José María Luzón Nogué, Museum Director, 1994-1996

We were seated on a bench, Bill Clinton and I, looking at the Equestrian portrait of Charles V in Mühlberg, by Titian. At that moment, the most powerful man in the world was looking at a man who had been the most powerful man of his time. He sat there thinking, he asked me about Charles V, and I thought to myself, "This is as if it were a historical moment. Look who is looking at the painting and who he is contemplating.” Aside from the fact that it was by Titian, aside from the wonderful painting it is and all the anecdotes that could be told, the singularity of that moment was the character looking at the painting, seated there for a while. What could be going through his mind during that moment of contemplation? I couldn't ask him, but I wondered, "What is he thinking?” I did mention something to him about the situation.