A propósito del Carlos V con el perro de Tiziano

Abstract

Since the beginning of the 20* century, art historians have tried to establish which of the two portraits of the Emperor Charles V with a dog —one by Seisenegger, court painter to Ferdinand of Austria, and the other by Titian— is the original and which is the copy. Following Glück's thesis (1927) Seisenegger's portrait was generally thought to be the first one. Nevertheless, recent publications, based on X-ray studies, and not taking into consideration the four earlier portraits of the Emperor by Seisenegger, have challenged this view and declared Titian's portrait to be the original. In this study the author presents and analizes the four portraits of the Emperor by Seisenegger prior to the portrait with a dog, as well as the corresponding documentation. The conclusion is that Seisenegger's and not Titian's portrait is the original. Consequently, Titian's portrait is not a first «retrato de aparato italiano,» but the adoption of the millenial Central European model of the «Miles Christianus».