Portrait de Paul III avec camauro

Titian painted this around 1545, when Pope Paul III was in his late 70s and had just opened the Council of Trent, the long meeting called to answer the Protestant Reformation. The pope sits in the camauro, the red velvet cap popes wore in cold weather, and turns to fix the viewer with a wary, sidelong look. Titian had first painted him two years earlier bareheaded. This later version, done for the pope's grandson, the cardinal Guido Ascanio Sforza, is sharper and more watchful. Titian barely resolves the hands and robe, letting loose strokes stand for shot velvet, and brings only the wary old face to a full finish.