(Pieve di Cadore circa 1485/90–1576 Venice)
Portrait of Pope Paul III Farnese,
oil on canvas, 106.5 x 88.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Marchese Raggio D’Azeglio Collection, Lomellina;
where acquired by the present owner

The present painting is a version of the celebrated Portrait of Paul III by Titian, conserved in the Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples (inv. n. Q 130). Titian executed the portrait during the Spring of 1543, when he accompanied the Pope on his journey to Emilia to meet Emperor Charles V. In the years immediately following this journey, during his Roman sojourn, Titian was to execute a further two portraits of the Farnese Pope, both of which entered the Capodimonte collections: in one of these he adopted the same composition as the first painting, but depicted Paul III wearing the papal camauro hat, while in the other, the pontiff is shown with his nephews, Alessandro and Ottavio.

Several copies of the 1543 portrait have survived: its success establishes that this image, rather than that of the Pope wearing the camauro, was the Farnese Pope’s official portrait. A studio version is conserved in the cathedral in Toledo, while among the various versions in Italy, the one conserved in Rome’s Galleria Spada, attributed to Scipione Pulzone is notable (for all the works see: H. E. Wethey, The Paintings of Titian. II. The Portraits, London 1971, pp. 122-124 and figg. 258-262).

The Portrait of Paul III by Titian from which the present painting derives, can be identified with the painting which Vasari, in his Lives of 1568, reports as being in the guardaroba of the palace of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in Rome. It is therefore likely that the painter of the present picture was able to see the work in this location. The present version of Titian’s original is of pictorial quality and demonstrates elements close to the work of Pulzone, as well as, through the softness of the brushstrokes and especially the rendering of the red velvet, successfully retaining the Venetian elements of the original. Compared to the other known versions, the present work does not include a purse: in Titian’s work the pontiff holds a purse in his right hand.