Carlo V con un cane

In 1533 Charles the Fifth was the most powerful man in Europe, ruling Spain, the Low Countries, much of Italy, and the new lands in the Americas. A year earlier an Austrian painter had shown him full-length, standing with a large hunting dog, and the Emperor was not pleased with it. So when Titian happened to be in Bologna at the same time, Charles paid him five hundred ducats to do it again. Titian kept the dog and the pose but changed everything else. He built up the fur, lowered the horizon, and let the figure fill the space so the man seems to step toward you. It was the start of a partnership. From then on Charles wanted almost no one but Titian to paint him.