Papal Portraiture Lineage: A Dialogue Between Generations

Detail of a portrait of Pope Paul III, 1543, by Titian. National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. Public Domain

On the Via del Corso, a main thoroughfare of central Rome that dates back to ancient times, stands the historic Palazzo Doria Pamphilj. At the heart of this 1,000-room palazzo is the Doria Pamphilj Gallery, which exhibits the Doria Pamphilj family’s art collection, one of Italy’s greatest private collections.

Family members continue to live in private wings of the building, the foundation of which was built in the 16th century, while other apartments in the colossal palazzo are sublet to artists, writers, and religious organizations.

Isabella Ducrot, one of these residents, is a nonagenarian artist and collector who observes in a video interview with The World of Interiors (a London-based design magazine) that the palazzo is both fascinating and breathtaking “because it has the power to open your imagination to a sense of joy and peacefulness in the center of Rome.”

Tourists can see the family’s splendid collection displayed amid the opulent gilded, frescoed, and damasked rooms. The gallery includes significant Italian paintings and sculptures by such masters as Bellini, Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio, and Bernini, along with Flemish, French, and Spanish works by the likes of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Claude Lorrain, and Diego Velázquez.

A famous work is the masterpiece of the collection, the powerful portrait of Pope Innocent X by Velázquez (1599–1660). It depicts the family’s ancestor, born Giovanni Battista Pamphilj, who became pope in 1644 and was a great patron of the arts. Historically, the painting has widely been considered one of the finest and most unforgettable examples of portraiture since its creation.

Velázquez and the Pope’s Authority

Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1649–1650, by Diego Velázquez. Oil on canvas; 55.5 inches by 46.8 inches. Doria Pamphilj Gallery, Rome. Public Domain

The Baroque artist Diego Velázquez, born in Seville, Spain, was one of the most important painters of the Spanish Golden Age. Early in his career, he was appointed court painter to King Philip IV of Spain. Velázquez endeavored to find his own artistic style, and a trip to Italy inspired him to focus on the brushwork application of pigment to create naturalistic light and color, increasing the sophistication and mastery of his work.

During his second visit to Italy, in the latter part of his career, he painted the portrait of Pope Innocent X. Circumstances leading to the portrait’s creation included the papacy shifting its alliance from France to Spain. Having the Spanish king’s trusted courtier and favored artist paint the pope’s portrait was a shrewd political move during this major change in international relations.

The painting, realistically and without flattery, portrays the appearance and character of the pontiff. Despite the unattractiveness of his features and the ruddiness of his skin, highlighted by reflective and aggressive crimson tints in the cap, silky cape, and drapery, the pope radiates grandeur. His all-powerful authority is suggested by the massive block that makes up his body, which takes up most of the canvas, along with his confident arm pose and his holding of seemingly important correspondence. The artist chose to depict him looking directly at the viewer, giving the illusion of an intimate private audience.

To better understand Velázquez’s 17th-century portrait, it is helpful to know of his admiration for the Renaissance artist Titian. There is a deep connection between the two artists’ style, highlighted in Velázquez’s portrait of Pope Innocent X, which was directly inspired by Titian’s 1543 portrait of Pope Paul III. In similar fashion, Titian’s painting takes cues from Raphael’s earlier definitive papal portrait of Pope Julius II from 1511. The Raphael painting is now part of The National Gallery in London, though it was in Rome during Velázquez’s sojourn and he studied it.

Raphael’s Innovations in Papal Portraiture

Portrait of Pope Julius II, 1511, by Raphael. Oil on poplar wood; 42.7 inches by 31.8 inches. The National Gallery, London. Public Domain

Raphael (1483–1520) was a highly accomplished portraitist who could create intense psychological images. Born in Urbino, Italy, he spent the last 12 years of his life in Rome. Much of his work there concerned Vatican commissions. Pope Julius II, a great patron of the arts, had Raphael decorate the papal apartments in the Vatican. When Raphael died suddenly at the age of 37, the pope ordered that he be buried in the Pantheon, which is a few minutes’ walk from the Palazzo Doria Pamphilj. It is touching that Velázquez’s great tribute to Raphael’s groundbreaking papal portrait lives so close to his resting place.

Before Raphael’s portrait of Pope Julius II, the iconography of papal portraiture was limited to depicting a pope either kneeling in prayer or surrounded by his cardinals. Raphael broke with this tradition by choosing to show Pope Julius II in a three-quarter view, which brings the viewer in close proximity to the subject, as well as seated alone with his forearms on the papal throne. This composition came to define papal portraiture for centuries.

Unlike Velázquez’s version, Raphael captured the pope in an introspective pose as his eyes are thoughtfully cast down. Red is a key color, from his throne to parts of the papal regalia, but the tones are rendered with precise brushstrokes, a key component of Raphael’s harmonious and graceful compositions. Besides red, the painting utilizes white (part of the pope’s dress) and green (the background). These colors are repeated in the stones of the pope’s rings, and they represent the three theological virtues: charity, faith, and hope.

There are political undertones, too, in this painting of an elderly and pensive man. The pope has a beard, which he kept only for a brief period while recovering from a near-fatal illness that had resulted from the loss of the city of Bologna to the French. It was a crushing defeat for one who had taken his papal name of “Julius” not from a previous pope but from Julius Caesar, and who was known as “The Warrior Pope.”

Like Innocent X, Julius II came from a powerful Italian noble lineage, the della Rovere family. “Rovere” is Italian for oak, and in the painting, the two golden acorns on the pope’s chair allude to the family name. Raphael’s astonishing skills are showcased in these acorns, for one can see on their gleaming surfaces a reflection showing a doorway in a narrow room with light from a mullioned window. The 16th-century artist and biographer Giorgio Vasari described Raphael’s painting as “so wonderfully lifelike and true that it inspired fear as if it were alive.”

Titian Bridges the Gap

Portrait of Pope Paul III, 1543, by Titian. Oil on canvas; 41.7 inches by 33.4 inches. National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples, Italy. Public Domain

The portrait of Pope Paul III by Titian (circa 1485/90? –1576) serves as the bridge between Raphael’s and Velázquez’s papal portraits. Titian, skilled in creating religious, mythological, and portrait paintings, was a master of color. The colors in his works are usually warm and rich, and he was adept at manipulating oil paint to give colors depth, intensity, and, when required, softness. His work is characterized by highly expressive, broad, and loose brushwork, which influenced the next generation of leading artists, among whom was Velázquez.

Titian achieved great success in his lifetime both in his hometown of Venice, Italy, where he dominated the art scene, and beyond. He created works for illustrious patrons including the della Rovere family, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, King Philip II of Spain, and the Farnese family.

Pope Paul III, also a great patron of the arts, was a member of the Farnese family, and Titian painted several portraits of him. The first one stayed in the Farnese family and eventually moved with a royal descendant to Naples, where it is now part of the Museo di Capodimonte.

The painting reveals remarkable insight into the pope’s personality. Inspired by Raphael’s composition, Titian showed the pope in a three-quarter pose and positioned on the left side of the canvas. Unlike Raphael’s more remote pope, Pope Paul III solemnly looks directly at the viewer.

Although Titian’s Pope Paul III is elderly, the sitter exudes power and confidence. The indeterminate dark background keeps the focus on the physical presence of the pope. Titian used color and light to model the gradated luster of the red velvet cape, the stiffness of the linen fabric, and the flesh of the pope’s strong and capable hands. A sense of calm in the Raphael tradition pervades Titian’s painting. In comparison, Velázquez’s pope is more explosive, embodied by the sitter’s intense gaze as well as the painter’s amplification of red.

These three paintings are indelibly linked. As a trio, they inspired subsequent generations in the creation of ecclesiastical portraiture. While the Velázquez work is in a private collection and the Raphael and Titian are parts of museums, fortunately, all three are on public display.

Would you like to see other kinds of arts and culture articles? Please email us your story ideas or feedback at [email protected]