Portrait of Philip II

In the early 1550s the young man in this portrait was the most eligible prince in Europe, heir to the vast Habsburg holdings of his father, Emperor Charles V. Titian had met him in Milan and again in Augsburg, and painted him more than once as the marriage brokers went to work. A companion portrait of Philip in gleaming armour was shipped to England ahead of his 1554 wedding to Mary Tudor, so the queen could study the husband chosen for her. This Naples version is the quieter one. Philip stands in an ermine-lined cape, one hand resting on a table, the gold chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece at his chest, the badge of the Habsburg dynasty he was about to inherit.