Palazzo San Martino di Parella, Turin.

This portrait of Don Filippo of Savoy is the only known equestrian portrait of him, having died prematurely. He is depicted here together with his father, Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy.

Realized by the ducal painter Jan Kraek, these impressive portraits show how powerful, wealthy and important the family was, with the gracefully embroidered saddles, the magnificent ruffs and the arms of Savoy visible in places.

Jan Kraeck was born in Haarlem in 1540 and probably met Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy, when the duke was Governor of Flanders. Kraeck was summoned to Turin to work there in 1567 and was appointed ducal painter the following year, so it seems very likely that they had met earlier. From this point on, the artist received many commissions for portraits, as well as for topographical plans of the duchy and a map of Turin. From 1568 until his death, Jan Kraeck worked as ducal painter, firstly to Emmanuel Philibert and then to his son Charles Emmanuel I. Tꦓhe artist travelled within the duchy: in 1579 his presence is recorded in Chambéry, while in 1585 he followed the Duke of Savoy on his trip to Spain. He returned in 1591 to paint portraits of the king and his family and died in Turin in 1607.

This composition revisits the equestrian figure of Charles Emmanuel I, whose official portrait Jan Kraeck had already pa♔inted, imposing and stately in a meticulously described suit of armour and holding the commander’s baton in his right hand. However, this seems to be a unique portrayal: the allegorical figures beneath the Duke’s feet in the engraving are here replaced by four soldiers, alluding to both the sovereign’s bravery and his army’s loyalty. Wearing elaborate armour, the Duke sports a white enamel medallion of the Annunciation, probably devised especially for the present portrait; his magnificent ruff as well as the saddle embroidered with silver thread emphasize the subject’s prestige and importance.

A valiant warrior, Charles Emmanuel I led many battles, mostly against the kingdom of France, but also against Venice 🍰and the Empire. In 1585, he married the infanta Caterina Micaela, daughter of Philip II, King of Spain; she gave birth to nine children.

The oldest among this large group of siblings was Don Filippo of Savoy, the ꦰsubject of the pendant to the first painting. While there are various exa༺mples of equestrian portraits of Charles Emmanuel I, this is not the case for his son Filippo Emmanuel, who died prematurely at the age of nineteen. To date, this is the only known equestrian portrait of him.

The prince is shown as an adult in Kraek’s idealized portrait. Seated on his rearing horse, he is depicted in front of the town of Moncalieri, whose bridge can be recog🐼nized in the bottom right🍰 of the composition.

Kraeck has given him the same attributes as in the portrait of Charles Emmanuel: the prince wears a larg🔯e ruff, beneath which the medallion of the Annunciation ♚glitters; he too holds the commander’s baton. Worth noting are the rich horse trappings, showing the arms of Savoy (ill. 1), and the saddle finely embroidered with gold thread forming a motif of the Savoy knot, also visible on the animal’s reins. Finally, the sash fluttering gracefully around the prince has gold embroidery featuring his mother’s monogram: CM for Caterina Micaela of Spain. This same sash also appears in a portrait of the infanta and her husband, likewise painted by Kraeck (now in a private collection).

These two paintings might have been part of a series of equestrꦛian portraits commissioned by Charles Emmanuel I to commemorate the Savoy dynasty. Initiated in 1587, this series adorned the walls of the Grande Galleria linking Turin Castle (now Palazzo Madama) to the Royal Palace, before being dispersed due to a fire in 1659, destroying the gallery.

The realism of these portraits is characteristic of Jan Kraeck, as is the carefully chosen, meticulously described ornamentation, the skilfully rendered texture of the fabrics and the velvety flesh tones. These qualities earned him the Duke of Savoy’s confidence and respect: the duke spoke of him on several occasions as ‘il bendiletto… il nostro pittore fiamengo’ [‘our mu🥃ch beloved Flemish painter’]. Three centuries later, there is still much to admire in the maje⛎sty of these models, the compositions which emphasize their bravery and the richness of their attire.

We are grateful to Dott. Cav. Arabella Cifani fo♈r her help in the writing of the notice.

Ill. 1 Arms of Savoy

Ill. 2 Raphael Sadeler, after Giovanni Caraca, Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy