Portrait of Alfonso d’Avalos, Marchese del Vasto, in Armor with a Page

Titian was the dominant painter of the Venetian Renaissance, and this portrait of Alfonso d’Avalos, marchese del Vasto, is one of the great images of military command in western art — the general in full armour, his baton raised, a page steadying his plumed helmet beside him. The painting dates from 1533, when the marchese was imperial governor of Milan and the artist was at the summit of his fame, and it belongs to the series of state portraits in which Titian defined the public image of Charles V’s commanders. The dark page set against the silvery armour shows the master’s command of colour and texture at full maturity, while the bare, almost monochrome field gives the figure a sculptural gravity that anticipates the late portraits. The painting is held in the J. Paul Getty Museum.