Portrait of Carlos V and Isabel de Portugal is the guest work in Madrid

Rubens' work, dated 1628 and which belongs to the collection of the Casa de Alba Foundation, is usually exhibited at the Flamengo Hall of the Laria Palace.

Rubens was directly inspired by the original portrait painted by Titian in 1548, at the emperor's orders.

Thus, the imperial portrait of the Flemish painter is the only preserved reference to Titian's original, which disappeared in the fire of the Alcázar de Madrid in 1734.

The order was made posthumously, since Isabel de Portugal died in 1539.

As Charles did not have a portrait that he considered worthy of her memory, he entrusted to Master Titian the responsibility of preserving Elizabeth's memory by means of an idealized image, more faithful to the emperor's memories than to the actual traits of the Empress.

However, the portrait was transferred to the king's room in the Alcázar of Madrid, after having accompanied the emperor during his last years in Yuste.

It was in Alcázar that, due to the fire of 1734, Titian's work was lost forever.

The permanence of this portrait over time is due to the work of Rubens who, after visiting the royal collections and works of Titian on his first diplomatic journey to the court of Philip IV, painted the painting that, as of Wednesday, is exhibited in the Gallery of Royal Collections.

The work stands out for the contrast between the black garments of the emperors and the predominant red color in the tablecloth and the curtains behind the silhouettes, curtains that open to reveal what seems to be the landscape of the Serra de Guadarrama.

At the center of the table, a clock symbolizes the passage of time, the time Carlos V lives without the woman and the time remaining until he finds her again.

After the death of the Flemish painter in 1640, the work was acquired by Charles I of England and remained in the United Kingdom until it was bought in 1936 by the 17th Duke of Alba, Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Falcó, grandfather of the current duke.

The director of the Royal Collections, Victor Cageao, thanked the collaboration of the Casa de Alba Foundation for providing the Habsburg Room (Sala de los Austrias, in Spanish) “a fundamental piece to understand the figure of the emperors on the fifth anniversary of their marriage”.

His presentation was complemented by a series of documents from the Royal Library of the Royal Palace, intended to contextualize the figure of emperors.

Among them are the views of Seville and Granada, cities closely linked to the celebration of the imperial marriage and the couple's honeymoon, as well as an engraving of the empress's tomb and a royal ballot signed by her.