Artist: Tiziano Vecellio (Titian)
Style: High Renaissance
Topic: Famous People Portraits Royalty Scenes
Technique: Oil
Equestrian Portrait of Charles V (also Emperor Charles V on Horseback and Charles V at Mühlberg) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Italian Renaissance artist Titian. Created between April and September 1548 while Titian was at the imperial court of Augsburg, it is a tribute to Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, following Charles' victory in the April 1547 Battle of Mühlberg. Titian knew Charles V personally, and had painted a number of portraits of him by this time. The portrait was commissioned by Mary of Austria, Queen of Hungary, and entered the Museo del Prado's collection in 1827. Drawing on sources such as Roman military art (the statue of Marcus Aurelius on horseback), Renaissance equestrian imagery such as the engravings of Hans Burgkmair, and possibly Dürer's Knight, Death and the Devil, Titian portrays Charles V heroically but in a calm dawn setting in which there are no signs of battle. A feeling of steadiness and control is created by the darkly treed background behind the rider, the evenly clouded sky, and Charles' detached gaze into the distance. Titian departs from the traditional rendering of rider on horse, in which one of the horse's front legs is raised (as seen in the gallery of Roman and Renaissance works below). Instead, the horse bucks slightly with only its hind legs touching the ground, while Charles still holds the reins lightly, upright but at ease, implying his advanced horsemanship.
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