| This dissertation considers classically disguised Renaissance princely portraits and all'antica palace decorations in Italy in the first half of sixteenth century. Through an examination of artistic patronage at the courts of Florence, Mantua, Genoa and Trent, I argue that such depiction in the classical style flourished at this time because of the presence of an ancient Roman emperor incarnate: the new Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, who ruled over the formerly independent rulers of those cities after the sack of Rome in 1527. I propose that in response to this dramatic shift in the hierarchical structures in the Italian peninsula, the princes of Italy created a new socio-political visual narrative with which to rationalize their domination by a foreign power. By commissioning works that heralded Charles V as a new Augustus or Jupiter and themselves as classical figures like Hercules or Neptune, the princes both honored their overlord and emphasized their own power. Through visual assimilation to the archetypal figures of ancient Rome, they rationalized foreign rule by suggesting pictorially that Charles was the continuation of their great Roman past---their, and also his, ultimate source of power and legitimacy. |
