Portrait of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (after Cranach?)

This portrait of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, along with the portrait of Francis I were made by the Ottoman court artist Haydar (Nigari). The inscription under the portrait states that one of them is [of] Spain and the other France. The inscription below the portrait of Francis contains the artist’s name and fictitiously proclaims that they [Francis and Charles] visited Sultan Selim II (r. 1566-74) to collect an imperial decree. While the two monarchs, archrivals of the Ottoman sultans, never set foot in the Ottoman capital, images of their likenesses did, providing the artist with prototypes. Here, Nigari has taken as his model an unknown portrait of Charles V possibly a print modeled after Charles’ portrait by Lucas Cranach. Charles, shown in profile view is depicted in European headdress and costume. The artist executed the portrait using minimal depth. The artist Haydar Nigari was a sea captain and was in charge of the Ottoman Imperial Naval yards. He was also a poet and close companion of Selim II during his princedom and rule. Both portraits were most likely later included in an album made for Ahmed I (r. 1603-17) partially known as the Bellini album.