The Glory by Titian, 1551-1554. Recorded on February 7, 2024
Welcome back to the Prada Museum we’re here a few minutes before the museum opens with our weekly session an English on the pra social media programming this is a project supported by American Friends of the pra Museum and we are dedicated to supporting the pra and its programming along very much with our
Sister organization in Spain The Amigos so thank you for joining us thank you for helping us today we are in the an Sala in Spanish the entry room of the main Gallery upstairs so impressive where we have this gallery that is dedicated to the allegory and art the unification
Of the Spanish habsburg’s great faith and defense of the Catholic faith how they’re both United we have welcoming us here Charles I and Charles I is such an important character in European history with so many countries calling him as their own in that he was first the Duke of
Burgundy then he was the first king to rule as king of Spain unite under the United Kingdoms of Aragon and Castile and from these inherited territories he was also elected Holy Roman Emperor Emperor over the German Austrian H area so this is a vast vast territory and he is known as Charles I
And also Charles the of Spain he’s the same figure and as we come in we have an really impressive enormous painting by his favorite artist which is tishan Venetian painter tishan and whose artworks fill the pra thanks to the great Passion that uh Charles and his sister Mary of Hungary and his son
Philip II uh would have to this painter and the painting that enters as we see is called the glory and I chose this painting to really um just have a review of its context because I think it helps us a lot appreciate uh what it is and it’s
Really personal it takes on a personal significance uh for the emperor what we have is an image of the Trinity and glory and the textual reference for this are the works of St Augustine the city of God where the blessed are seeing a vision of celestial Glory a trinity the the
Father the the Son and the Holy Spirit in the Dove and the whole composition is ascendant and works to this and we know that Charles commissioned this work and gave very specific instructions to tishan he commissioned it uh in the 15 in 1550 or
1551 and for an idea this is just two or three years after the great Charles ith on horseback after the battle of mulberg which is just a few meters down the hall um so it’s very contemporary and the and it breaks away from other images of the
Trinity and so we know that Charles gave the painter very specific instructions as to what he wanted also very important to know that this painting Charles would abdicate from the throne and he would retire to a very remote and beautiful uh Monastery but very far away and difficult to reach especially at
That time with the roads in the area of UST this is in the area of extreme adura in Spain and that’s where he would retire from all of his political life and live a very religious uh moment preparing for death and he took this painting with him and actually asked to
See it uh very close to his death so we know it was a very personal painting for him what we see is apart from the celestial we have Jesus and God the Father very similar and very it’s very similar figures both dressed in blue and in the
Center the dove of the Holy Spirit and with this golden uh Haze and lighting around them of Glory they are has a very interesting idea that the other figure in blue is the Virgin Mary and she is the only one who is not looking up in awe of the Holy Trinity in
This beautiful moment this impressive moment she is dressed in blue as the father and the son and she is looking down uh at the figures but she’s a great great intercessor she and John the Baptist are great intercessors uh for people uh to reach to reach their prayers to reach Jesus and to
God below them are figures from the Bible both the Old and the New Testament that we have Moses here with a big Monumental figure of Moses with the tablets of the Ten Commandments right behind him we have Noah and his ark with the dove showing that the the
Land has been found we have King David over here in this blue um robe with Armenia and his musical instrument you know because he was a musician also and these figures above them this is where it becomes very personal we have the portrait of the Royal Family so we have
Charles himself Charles here with no longer his crown on his crown is down below his knee and he’s companion in the company of his wife who is already deceased at this time Isabella Portugal and his son Phillip his daughter hanana and the two his two sisters Maria and leonar so this
Is the Imperial family the holy family they’re not dressed in Rich clothing they’re they’re dressed in shrouds prepared for preparing for death they’re Barefoot they are praying to the Trinity they are in hoping praying for their intercession so that their souls will be eternally saved now all of this
Idea and Ascension in this present of Glory is very important even though it’s very small down here at the bottom there is a landscape that brings us back kind of to uh an idea of the real of our reality with these figures down here which are kind of witnesses of
This Celestial Glory happening these witnesses that are surprised we believe that they’re pilgrims H and they are surprised with this monumental uh happening occurrence and it very much is the connection between our reality and the spiritual reality very interesting also is that uh other people allowed to put put themselves
Into this painting not only the Imperial family according to uh Charles’s wishes as to who was there but also a self-portrait of tishan tishan says well me too I want to come in with you to be in to have the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist intercede for me in the
Eternal saving of my soul and his friend artino who is a great writer and his publicist and even beyond that we also know that the Ambassador uh to Venice the Spanish or the Imperial ambassador to Venice said well if you don’t mind will you also include my self-portrait and and we’ll
All get in there you know behind the lead of of the emperor Charles so very much faithful in this sense um another another idea is also kind of a political statement right at this time Charles and his brother Fernando Ferdinand who is the uh inheritor for the Imperial Crown have a family Rift
Over succession rights um Charles would like for after Fernando Ferdinand for his son Philip to come in and Ferdinand wants his son maximilan so there’s a little bit of a family Rift over that and they are absent in the family pleading uh for their Eternal salvation other and then one last thing
To bring it together uh is tishan signed this painting we’re going to have this another mon Monumental figure here and this one is in doubt whether I’ve read it was John the Evangelist and I’ve also read that it’s Ezekiel and Ezekiel is the prophet of who speaks about the last
Judgment but on this scroll is where tishan signs his name so just knowing that this is the painting that Charles gave specific instruction as to how he want it painted changed the iconography a little bit of the of the Trinity and the scene and how to include the Imperial family in this very
Humble way without um without ostentation just very humble Souls praying for their salvation and that he took this with him to his retirement and you stay and wanted to see it before he passed away I think it adds a lot of context that helps us appreciate this
Painting so thank you thank you very much to for joining us today and we will see you again in our next session
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