''Portrait of Pope Paul III with Camauro'' (or ''Portrait of Pope Paul III with Cap'') is a 1545 – 1546 oil on canvas painting by

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

, now in the

Museo nazionale di Capodimonte Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Italian ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. AA. VV., ''I Farnese. Arte e collezionismo'', Milano, Editrice Electa, 1995, ISBN 978-8843551323, pp. 210-212.

History

Judging by the relative apparent ages of the Pope in the three works, the canvas was produced immediately after the '' Portrait of Pope Paul III'' (the first official version of the work) and before the '' Portrait of Pope Paul III with his Grandsons''. This assumption is fundamentally based on the age that transpires from the figure of the pope, who appears to be more advanced than that of the official portrait, already seventy-five, while it is less so than that where the pontiff himself appears with his two nephews. According to

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...

's ''

Lives of the Artists ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' ( it, Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, e architettori), often simply known as ''The Lives'' ( it, Le Vite), is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-ce ...

'' it was produced for cardinal

camerlengo Camerlengo (plural: ''camerlenghi'', Italian for "chamberlain") is an Italian title of medieval origin. It derives from the late Latin ''camarlingus'', in turn coming through the Frankish ''kamerling'', from the Latin ''camerarius'' which meant "ch ...

Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora Guido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora (26 November 1518 – 6 October 1564) was an Italian cardinal, known also as ''The cardinal of Santa Fiora''. Born in Rome, he was the son of Costanza Farnese and therefore grandson of Pope Paul III, brot ...

, president of the Apostolic Camera and grandson of its subject. AA. VV., ''I Farnese. Arte e collezionismo'', Milano, Editrice Electa, 1995, ISBN 978-8843551323, pp. 206-207 AA. VV., ''Tiziano e il ritratto di corte da Raffaello ai Carracci'', Napoli, Editrice Electa, 2006, ISBN 978-8851003364, p 138. Unlike the first official version it shows its subject wearing the papal

camauro A camauro (from the Latin ''camelaucum'' and from the Greek ''kamelauchion'', meaning "camel skin hat") is a cap traditionally worn by the Pope of the Catholic Church. Papal camauros are made from red wool or velvet with white ermine trim, and ...

, has a scroll replacing the ring on his hand and a landscape on one side of the background. Versions of this work showing the camauro also survive in the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...

in Vienna and the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...

in Saint Petersburg, both of these may or may not be autograph works.

Provenance

The work now in Naples was then owned by

Fulvio Orsini Fulvio Orsini (11 December 1529 – 18 May 1600) was an Italian humanist, historian, and archaeologist. He was a descendant of the Orsini family, one of the oldest, most illustrious, and for centuries most powerful of the Roman princely families, ...

, collector and

librarian A librarian is a person who works professionally in a library providing access to information, and sometimes social or technical programming, or instruction on information literacy to users. The role of the librarian has changed much over time, ...

to the

Farnese family The House of Farnese family (, also , ) was an influential family in Renaissance Italy. The titles of Duke of Parma and Piacenza and Duke of Castro were held by various members of the family. Its most important members included Pope Paul I ...

, then to

Odoardo Farnese Odoardo Farnese (28 April 1612 – 11 September 1646), also known as Odoardo I Farnese to distinguish him from his grandson Odoardo II Farnese, was Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Castro from 1622 to 1646. Biography Odoardo was the eldest legit ...

, who added it to the other portraits of his family by Titian at the

Palazzo Farnese Palazzo Farnese () or Farnese Palace is one of the most important High Renaissance List of palaces in Italy#Rome, palaces in Rome. Owned by the Italian Republic, it was given to the French government in 1936 for a period of 99 years, and cur ...

in Rome. In the 17th century it and all the other works in the Farnese collection in Rome were moved to

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

, where it hung in a room alongside the same artist's ''

Portrait of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese The ''Portrait of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese'' is a portrait of cardinal Alessandro Farnese (the future Pope Paul III) by Raphael, executed ''circa'' 1509-1511. The cardinal posed near a window with a bright foreground, leading into a dark hall. ...

'' and ''

Portrait of Pier Luigi Farnese ''Portrait of Pier Luigi Farnese'' is a heavily-damaged 1546 oil on canvas painting of Pier Luigi Farnese, Duke of Parma by Titian, now in Room 2 of the National Museum of Capodimonte. It was produced on the artist's return to Venice from Rome i ...

'' before being moved to the Palazzo della Pilotta in the same city. When Charles of Bourbon succeeded to the throne on the death of his mother

Elisabeth Farnese Elisabeth Farnese (Italian: ''Elisabetta Farnese'', Spanish: ''Isabel Farnesio''; 25 October 169211 July 1766) was Queen of Spain by marriage to King Philip V. She exerted great influence over Spain's foreign policy and was the ''de facto'' rule ...

, this work and the rest of the collection were moved to Naples around 1734. It was initially displayed at Capodimonte, then in the

Palazzo Reale This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa * Abdin Palace, Cairo * Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo * Koubbeh Palace, Cairo * Tahra Palace, Cairo * Menelik Palace * Jubilee Palace * Guenete Leul Palace * Imperial Palace- Massa ...

, then in the Palazzo degli Studi and finally returned to Capodimonte. This work and the ''Portrait of Pier Luigi Farnese'' were both demoted to studio-work status due to their poor condition, but a major mid 20th century restoration and investigation of the ''Portrait of Pope Paul III'' placed its colours on new supports and reconfirmed the work's autograph status.

History

Provenance

See also

References

Further reading