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

Titian painted this in Bologna in the winter of 1533, while the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V was holding court in the city and settling the affairs of Italy. Alfonso d'Avalos was the emperor's commander-general there. Portraits of powerful men before this usually stopped at the head and shoulders. Titian gave d'Avalos the full standing figure, hand resting on his sword, and that upright pose became the template court painters would copy for generations. He wears black and gold armor with the collar of the Golden Fleece across his chest, the order Charles had granted him for his campaigns. Beside him a small page reaches up to hold the great plumed helmet, and the difference in their size makes the commander loom even larger.