Emperor Charles V
Artist
Barthel Beham
(German, 1502 - 1540)
Date1531
MediumEngraving
DimensionsPlate: 8 1/8 × 5 1/16 inches (20.64 × 12.86 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number32-69/21
On View
Not on viewCollections
Exhibition HistoryNorthern Portrait Prints from the Renaissance to the Baroque, Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE, August 30-November 30, 1997.
Portraiture, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, May 19-November 28, 2010.
Albrecht Dürer, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, July 17-January 12, 2019-2020.
The sitter of this print was the most powerful man in Europe in the first half of the 16th century. As Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V's rule extended from Spain to Italy and Austria and to the recently gained Spanish possessions in the New World. He wears the order of the Golden Fleece, one of the most distinguished decorations of the Holy Roman Empire. Charles had a jutting jaw and pendulous lower lip, which this portrait softens. He is portrayed in a restrained way; he was powerful enough to be easily recognized and his status needed no emphasis.
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