Alessandro Farnese

Pier Luigi’s eldest son, Alessandro (1520–89), had been created cardinal at 14. A patron of scholars and artists, it was he who completed the magnificent Farnese palaces in Rome and at Caprarola.

…III and his grandson, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, began to compete with Emperor Charles V for Titian’s services. At the request of the pope, the painter traveled to Bologna in May 1543 and there prepared the celebrated official portrait of Pope Paul III Without Cap. Although a state symbol of the…