Portrait of Isabella of Portugal

Titian's posthumous Portrait of Isabella of Portugal, painted in 1548 and now in the Museo del Prado, was commissioned by Emperor Charles V nine years after the death of his wife — a datum that speaks to the depth of the emperor's grief and to the political and emotional weight that Renaissance portraits carried beyond the merely commemorative. Isabella had been Charles V's partner in governance during the long years of his absence from Spain, serving as regent and earning widespread respect; her death in 1539 was a blow from which contemporaries noted he never fully recovered. Titian worked from a portrait by another hand — possibly by Jan Cornelisz Vermeyen — to create an image that satisfied the emperor's desire to see his wife through the eyes of Europe's greatest portraitist. The result is a paradox: one of Titian's most technically assured and psychologically convincing portraits of someone he never met, a demonstration of how thoroughly the Renaissance portrait could serve as memorial, political statement, and artistic achievement simultaneously.

Titian renders the posthumous portrait with dignified restraint and warm color, using rich costume details and the idealized rendering appropriate to a memorial portrait to create an image of queenly grace and beauty.

This posthumous portrait from 1548 was painted at the Diet of Augsburg at Charles V's request. The Prado has conserved it with care appropriate to its significance as a royal memorial. The canvas has been relined. The elaborate costume and jewel details remain well-preserved.