John Frederick, Elector of Saxony

Titian's second portrait of John Frederick of Saxony, painted around 1550-1551 and now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, returned to the captive Protestant elector who remained imprisoned in Habsburg custody years after the Battle of Mühlberg. The earlier Augsburg portrait of 1548 had shown John Frederick shortly after his capture; this second version depicts him in the continued captivity that would not end until 1552, when he was finally released following Charles V's military reverses against Maurice of Saxony. The two Kunsthistorisches Museum portraits of John Frederick together constitute a documentary sequence of unusual biographical completeness, showing the same man across several years of imprisonment with a sympathy for the sitter that transcends the political divisions between the Catholic Titian and the Lutheran elector. Titian's ability to render dignity in defeat — the sitter's massive physical presence undiminished by confinement, his bearing still that of a prince — gives these portraits a particular moral power.

The broad, confident brushwork and warm flesh tones create a sympathetic portrayal of the massive elector, with the dark costume and minimal background focusing attention on the sitter's resilient expression.

This portrait is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. It was painted during the Elector's imprisonment following the Battle of Mühlberg, where Titian also painted the famous equestrian portrait of his captor, Charles V. The painting has been cleaned and restored. The flesh tones and the scar on the cheek are well-preserved. The canvas has been relined and is in good structural condition.