Gian Ludovico Madruzzo

This and Moroni’s depiction of the sitter’s brother (Gian Federico Madruzzo; National Gallery of Art, Washington) are believed to be the artist’s earliest full-length portraits. Together with Titian’s portrait of their uncle, the prince-bishop of Trent, Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo (Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand), they once hung in Trent’s Castello del Buonconsiglio. Moroni is recorded in Trent about 1548 and in 1551−52 during the Catholic Council. Gian Ludovico Madruzzo began his ecclesiastic career at age thirteen, when he was appointed canon of Brixen Cathedral. He succeeded his uncle as princebishop of Trent and became cardinal in 1561; in 1559, he performed the funeral oration for Charles V.