| Portrait of Pope Paul III with Camauro | |
|---|---|
_-_National_Museum_of_Capodimonte.jpg) | |
| Artist | Titian |
| Year | c. 1545-1546 |
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 113.7 cm × 88.8 cm (44.8 in × 35.0 in) |
| Location | Museo di Capodimonte,Naples |
Portrait of Pope Paul III with Camauro (or Portrait of Pope Paul III with Cap) is an oil on canvas painting byTitian, fromc. 1545-1546.[1] It is held in theMuseo nazionale di Capodimonte, inNaples.[2][3]
Judging by the relative apparent ages of the pope in the three works, the canvas was produced immediately after thePortrait of Pope Paul III (the first official version of the work) and before thePortrait of Pope Paul III with his Grandsons.[2] This assumption is fundamentally based on the age that transpires from the figure ofPaul III, 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 grandsons.[3] According toVasari'sLives of the Artists it was produced for cardinalcamerlengoGuido Ascanio Sforza di Santa Fiora, president of the Apostolic Camera and grandson of its subject.[4][5] Unlike the 1543 version it shows its subject wearing the papalcamauro, has a scroll replacing the ring on his hand and a landscape on one side of the background.[2] Versions of this work showing the camauro also survive in theKunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna and theHermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, both of these may or may not be autograph works.[2]
The painting now in Naples was then owned byFulvio Orsini, collector andlibrarian to theFarnese family, then toOdoardo Farnese, who added it to the other portraits of his family by Titian at thePalazzo Farnese in Rome. In the 17th century it and all the other works in theFarnese Collection in Rome were moved toParma,[2][3] where it hung in a room alongside the same artist'sPortrait of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese andPortrait of Pier Luigi Farnese before being moved to thePalazzo della Pilotta in the same city.[3] WhenCharles of Bourbon succeeded to the throne on the death of his motherElisabeth Farnese, this work and the rest of the collection were moved to Naples around 1734.[2] It was initially displayed at thePalace of Capodimonte, then in theRoyal Palace, then in thePalazzo degli Studi and finally returned to Capodimonte.[3] This work and thePortrait of Pier Luigi Farnese were both demoted to studio-work status due to their poor condition,[2] but a major mid 20th century restoration and investigation of thePortrait of Pope Paul III with Camauro placed its colours on new supports and reconfirmed the work's autograph status.[2]