The portrait of the cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo, by Titian: the clock and the politics in the Renaissance

Author(s)

Isabel Hargrave Gonçalves da Silva

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Humanas
• Defense date: 2013-06-24

Examining board members

Luiz Cesar Marques Filho; Cássio da Silva Fernandes; Luciano Migliaccio

• Advisor: Luiz Cesar Marques Filho

Abstract

From the collection of the Museum of São Paulo, the Portrait of the Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo was painted by Titian in 1552 in his second trip to the imperial city of Augsburg. The cardinal was the host of the Council of Trent, where he was prince-bishop, and which catalyzed the Catholic Reformation and brought new directions to religion, art and the Western history. As prince-bishop of the imperial territory of Trent, Madruzzo acted as ambassador and spokesman of Charles V, emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. As Roman cardinal, he served more than five popes throughout almost thirty years. Therefore, Madruzzo acted between the forces and interests of pope and emperor. The portrait, painted by the greatest portraitist of the century - Charles V?s favorite, and who painted several members of the Hapsburg court - allows us to see different aspects of this moment in European history. The cardinal is portrayed in the action of opening the red curtain and revealing the precious mechanical clock that shows an exact hour, in which the date of the painting is engraved. Far from being the first appearance of a mechanical clock on a portrait, this object belongs to the iconographical tradition that attributes moral meanings to it, such as the virtue of temperance, the vanitas and the memento mori. Besides, this object is seen as the symbol of regularity in a world that, with the advent of science, becomes more rational and accurate. The mechanical clock was valued by collectors such as Charles V himself, whose interest was partially due to political texts that associated the action of the ruler with the wheels and engine of a clock. In short, the mechanism in the shape of a tower, present in the Portrait of the Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo is, even more than just an object, the main character of the scene, whose theatricality brilliantly built by Titian made us go through all this course (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 10/04301-7 - The portrait of Cristoforo Madruzzo, by Titian, from the art museum of São Paulo: the iconographic tradition of time measurer instruments and its Renaissance discussions
• Grantee: Isabel Hargrave Gonçalves da Silva
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master