Bust of Charles V, ca. 1515 - ca. 1519

This bust shows Charles as a beardless adolescent, presumably between 1515 and 1519, the years when he was declared an adult and crowned emperor. Charles shows the typical physiognomy of the Habsburgs. On his chest he wears the chain of the Order of the Golden Fleece - the young archduke became a knight of this order in 1501 at the age of one! In the existing literature, the name of Conrad Meit (ca. 1480 -1551) has been linked to this bust since the end of the 19th century. This German artist was the court sculptor of Charles' aunt, Margaret of Austria. Meit was active in the Low Countries from c. 1512 until his death. Stylistically, however, this attribution does not hold. Conrad Meit is an excellent sculptor who, by order of Margaret of Austria, made portraits of her and her late husband Philibert of Savoy, either in marble or in wood. These portraits are particularly lively and show great virtuosity in the depiction of character, in contrast to the replicas from the museums of Ghent and Bruges. These are characterised by a rather tight and dry model and an almost schematic facial rendering.