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Portrait of Francis I

Tiziano Vecellio, 1538

Titian's Portrait of Francis I, dated 1538, shows the King of France in strict side view, wearing a hat, in a pose that recalls a coin or medal. The oil painting belongs to the Department of Paintings of the Louvre in Paris, and its recorded location is the Salle des États.

Where to see it

The painting is held by the Department of Paintings of the Louvre in Paris, and its recorded location is the Salle des États. It measures 109 cm high by 89 cm wide. Displays can change because of rehangings, conservation or loans, so check the Louvre's official website for the painting's current display status before you visit.

What to look for in person

A king in profile, like a medal

Start with the pose. Francis I is shown in pure profile, facing sideways rather than toward you, and wearing a hat. Most painted portraits of the period turn the sitter toward the viewer, so this side view stands out. It comes from a portrait medal, and the effect recalls the heads of ancient Roman emperors on coins. Stand back and notice how the outline of the face reads clearly against the background, much as a profile does on a medal.

A portrait made without a sitting

Titian did not see the king in person for this work. He based the likeness on a profile medal of Francis I by Benvenuto Cellini and turned that small metal image into a painted portrait of 109 by 89 cm. In front of the canvas, consider how the painter gave colour, texture and a sense of a living presence to a face first conceived in relief. The finished picture was presented to the king by the writer Pietro Aretino in 1538.

An image that travelled

This portrait shaped how later generations pictured Francis I. Engravers including Gilles Edme Petit and Jean Massard made prints after it, spreading the image well beyond the royal collection. In the nineteenth century, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres drew on it for the figure of the king in his painting The Death of Leonardo da Vinci. If you know that work or the engravings, look for the familiar profile and hat here, in what is effectively their source.

About the painting

Tiziano Vecellio, known in English as Titian, painted this oil portrait of Francis I, then King of France, in 1538. Unusually for a portrait, it was not made from a sitting. Titian worked from a profile medal of the king by Benvenuto Cellini, which explains the strict side view and its resemblance to images of Roman emperors. The completed painting was presented to Francis I by Pietro Aretino in the same year. The picture later left the French royal collection and came into the possession of Cardinal Jules Mazarin. His inventory did not credit Titian; it listed the painting as a work by Dosso Dossi. After Mazarin's death, King Louis XIV bought it in 1665, bringing it back into the royal collection, the line of ownership that leads to its place today in the Department of Paintings of the Louvre. The composition exists in more than one form. Variants are recorded at Harewood House near Leeds and in a private collection in Oslo, and a version showing only the bust is in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich. The Harewood picture differs in showing the king bareheaded; it was bought from the London dealers Thomas Agnew & Sons in 1918. A further version was painted for the Duke of Urbino in 1548. Seeing the Louvre painting, with the hat and the medal-like profile, helps make sense of how the type was repeated and adapted.

Key facts

More by Tiziano Vecellio

• Bacchus and Ariadne — National Gallery
• Salome with the Head of John the Baptist
• Venus of Urbino — Uffizi Gallery

Sources

• Wikidata Q18573255
• Wikipedia (ja) (CC BY-SA 4.0)
• www.louvre.fr
• contact.louvre.fr