PRADO, Portrait Of Carlo V - Titian

If you're a fan of Titian, I have good news for you: the Prado has an impressive collection of twenty-five of the Venetian genius' paintings, as he was Emperor Charles V's favorite painter. This incomparable collection is the heart of the huge section dedicated to Italian painting in the Prado.

I suggest starting with the large Portrait of Charles V on horseback in which you can see the emperor at the Battle of Mühlberg, where he defeated the German princes who had joined the Reformation and formed the Schmalkaldic League. Here Titian provides an unsurpassed example for all the equestrian portraits painted in later centuries: from Rubens to Van Dyck, from Rembrandt to Velazquez, and from David to Manet.

Charles V had called Titian to his side in Augusta in 1548, at the beginning of peace negotiations after the victorious end of the long war. To give you an idea of ​​the emperor's admiration for Titian, Charles V had reserved an apartment adjacent to his for the painter, including direct access between the apartments....