Netherlandish or Spanish, late 16th century

with a label inscribed: POMPEO LEONI - CARLOS V. IMP.

Counts von Galen, Mark, Westphalia;
and thence by family descent

The bronze has been damaged in the past, and there are losses around the truncation, in particular at the sides and back. Several metal mounts are nailed to the underside, visible from the open back, which serve to stabilise sections of the busts which have probably been reattached and partly restored. Several areas of the surface have been repatinated. The bronze is roughly finished, and there are shallow lacunae throughout. The tips of several leaves of the wreath are originally missing. There is minor rubbing to the lacquer patina, in particular at the high points of the leaves, the hair and the face. Otherwise the condition of the bronze is stable. The verde antico socle is in very good condition with minor dirt and wear and a few minor chips.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This impressive portrait of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, derives from what must have been a highly influential model by court artist Leone Leoni or his son Pompeo. Plaster casts of the bust are kept in the Chateau de Chambord and the Royal Museums of Fine Arts Brussels, a bronze version is at the Castle of Gaasbeek, and two 19th-century reductions of the model appeared on the Paris art market in recent years. This grand version in bronze comes from the descendants of the Counts von Galen, a Westphalian noble family, and was possibly handed down to them through relations from the House of Metternich.

From the moment he inherited the hotly contested Burgundian territories in 1506, the image of Charles V was disseminated, promoted, and heroised to grow allegiance to the ruler throughout Europe. The portrait of the young Charles V painted by Bernard van Orley in Brussels around 1515, for example, was copied widely, including in miniature in England, in enamelled gold in Spain, and in boxwood and Solnhofen stone in the South of Germany (now Musée du Louvre, inv. no. 2031). In 1516 Charles V became King of Spain, Naples, Sardinia, and Sicily, and upon the death of his grandfather Maximilian I in 1519, he succeeded him as the head of the Habsburg Monarchy, making him the Holy Roman Emperor. In this capacity he was the figurehead of countless political and armed conflicts with Francis I of France, the Protestants, the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I, and in South East Asian and American colonies. To gain favour with the people and to protect valuable alliances, Charles V turned to art once more to portray himself as a peaceful and honourable Christian ruler as well as a formidable warrior.

In his efforts to sustain this image, Charles V employed the foremost artists from across his empire. The Lombard sculptors Leone and Pompeo Leoni were enlisted in 1549 and created some of the most iconic images of the emperor. They relied on the same heroic likeness in most of their models. Both their full-length effigies, such as the extraordinary bronze Charles V and the Fury and the marble Charles V in the Prado (inv. nos. E00267 and E00273), and several of their busts show the emperor bearing armour and the Order of the Golden Fleece. The moustache is generally extended through the beard. Most recognisable, however, is the pronounced Habsburg jaw and the open mouth. Together with a thoughtful gaze, the jaw lends these portraits the charisma for which the emperor was known but which was seldom attained by other artists. In addition, the prominent chin in combination with the sharply rendered thick and wavy hair imbues the sculptures with a regal dynamism. All these traits are captured in a similar manner in the present bust. Particularly close comparisons are later works which are associated with Pompeo Leoni, such as a classically draped marble bust in the Prado started by Leone and probably finished by Pompeo, and a bronze bust with a laurel wreath attributed to Pompeo in the monastery of Cuacos de Yuste, where the emperor retired following his abdication.

As mentioned above, several versions of the present busts exist. Soly (op.cit.) illustrates a second bronze version attributed to Leone Leoni in the Castle of Gaasbeek, near Brussels. Gaasbeek has an extraordinary collection of portraits of Charles V, including a marble profile portrait by Leone Leoni, an alabaster half-length relief of Charles V and Isabella of Portugal by Jean Mone, and an early cast after Leone and Pompeo Leoni’s grand bronze bust in the Prado (inv. no. E00271). The latter object in particular suggests that moulds of the Leoni's busts in Spain were taken to create reproductions that were given to loyal subjects or, as the rough finishing of both our bust and that at Gaasbeek indicate, placed upon architecture in either Spain or the Burgundian Netherlands. It is unclear exactly when these images of the Emperor entered the Castle of Gaasbeek. The Count of Egmont, a close friend of Charles V, inhabited the Castle in the 16th century whilst later owners, including the Scockaert de Tirimont family and the Marquise Arconati Visconti, were avid collectors. The plaster bust that is preserved in the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Brussels (inv. no. 9953) is almost certainly a cast of the Gaasbeek bronze and therefore provides a terminus ante quem in the middle of the 19th century. The second plaster is a much less successfully modelled version of the present bust. It is in the Chateau de Chambord, where Francis I hosted Charles V in order to show off his power, and is therefore not likely to have arrived there before the 19th century. A further indication that the model was held in some esteem in the 19th century are two reductions of 23 centimetres which were sold at Sotheby’s Paris on 14 April 2010 and at Piasa in the following year.

RELATED LITERATURE
M. Roelants, The castle of Gaasbeek, 1978; H. Vandormael, L. de Keyser, and J. Vandenbreeden, “Kasteel van Gaasbeek”, Openbaar Kunstbezit in Vlaanderen 32, no. 1, 1994, p. 30; H. Soly (ed.), Charles V 1500-1558 and his time, Antwerp, 1999, p. 105; Kaiser Karl V (1500-1558). Macht und Ohnmacht Europas, exh. cat. Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundsrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, 2000, pp. 321-323, nos. 356-357