ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the impact that Prince Charles's acquisition of art had on the cultural life of the period. It complicates the established argument that Charles had very little understanding of art prior to his visit, and that his experience of the art collection of King Philip IV transformed his appreciation of painting. Charles's interest in the two pictures can be seen to represent different impulses that shaped the visit to Madrid. His primary interest in the pictures was primarily their status as autograph Titians. Titian's interest in the composition was in its erotic contrasts of fur against precious metal and naked flesh and the sexual lure of the exposed breast and the ambiguous position of the woman's arms, both defensive and at the same time inviting. If Charles was indeed seeking to emulate the Renaissance 'magnificence' of the courtly culture from which many of his most beloved Italian artists received their commissions, it didn't work.
