Emperor Maximilian II

Emperor Maximilian II sat to Antonis Mor around 1550, when the future Holy Roman Emperor was Archduke of Austria and heir to an extraordinary concentration of dynastic responsibilities. Mor had been brought into the Habsburg orbit through Cardinal Granvelle — who also sat to the artist around the same time — and his Prado portrait of Maximilian belongs to the systematic campaign of dynastic image-making that Mor conducted for the family across two decades. Maximilian was known for his relatively tolerant religious views within the dynasty, and his portrait differs subtly from the more martial images of Philip II: he appears measured, scholarly almost, his bearing authoritative without the aggressive display of armour that dominates some Habsburg portraits.

The canvas is prepared to receive Mor's smooth, glazed flesh-tone passages, which give Maximilian's face an almost sculptural quality. The black-and-gold court costume creates a field of restrained luxury against which the face reads clearly. Mor varies the texture of the paint surface to differentiate gold embroidery from black velvet from the paler ground of shirt or collar.