Portrait of Pope Paul III

This portrait of Pope Paul III from around 1540, now in the National Art Museum of Azerbaijan, is among the earliest of Titian's several engagements with the Farnese pope, predating the famous camauro portrait and the triple group portrait by five years. At this date Paul III was seventy-two and had been pope for six years, already having launched the Council of Trent and established the Roman Inquisition. Titian had not yet visited Rome — he would not make the journey until 1545 — and this portrait may have been executed from a different earlier likeness or during a papal journey north. The National Art Museum of Azerbaijan's holding of this work reflects the extraordinary geographical dispersal of Italian Renaissance paintings through European aristocratic and imperial collections from the seventeenth century onward. What the painting captures is the intellectual ferocity of a man who had spent his life in the Byzantine politics of the Renaissance papacy and who, at the height of his power, sat for Europe's greatest portraitist.

The portrait captures the pope with penetrating psychological acuity, the intelligent eyes and firm set of the mouth conveying the authority and political shrewdness for which Paul III was known. The rich crimson of the papal vestments provides a warm, saturated color field that Titian exploits to brilliant effect, varying the red tones with masterful subtlety. The face is modeled with precise, blended brushwork that creates convincing three-dimensionality.

This papal portrait from 1540 is one of the most important in the history of Western portraiture. The painting has been carefully conserved over the centuries. The brilliant red pigments that dominate the composition have been well-maintained. The canvas has been relined and the surface cleaned.