Pope Paul III Portrait

Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese)

1468 - 1534 - 1549 (81)

Painted in 1543 by Titian - you'll find him facing down the el Grecos in the Sacristy of Toledo Cathedral

Pope of the Counter Reformation who kicked off the Council of Trent in 1545. Four more Popes were to occupy the throne of Saint Peter before the Council ended in 18 years later in 1563, so the court artist had plenty of time to capture the scene in the painting below of the Council in session, which is in Santa Maria in Trastevere. .

The Council decided that the Reformation needed to be rolled back (or stopped from further expansion anyway). Two of the European instruments used in this were the Jesuits (founded by S Ignatius Loyola and S Francis Xavier in 1534) to teach, and an expanded Inquisition (which originated in Spain in 1478) to root out and eliminate those who did not want to be taught!

It was 1562 before the deliberations got round to music, resulting in the banning of masses based on popular songs (which most of them were) and other "distractive" music. Luckily Palestrina and Victoria were in Rome to take up the challenge of producing the new church music, and produced a transcendently beautiful style that was to retain its influence into the eighteenth century.

He was also responsible for one of the world's most beautiful palaces - the Farnese Palace in Rome (below), designed by Antonio di Sangallo the Younger and Michelangelo and containing a famous set of frescoes by Annibale Carracci painted between 1597 and 1604.

France has the exclusive use of the Farnese Palazzo as their embassy, and getting in needs a bit of advanced planning.

Alessandro's sister, the reputedly drop dead gorgeous Giulia Farnese, was mistress of the earlier Spanish Borgia Pope Alessandro VI . Sadly not one authentic image of her survives (see this web page). Cardinal Farnese received rapid advancement under Alessandro VI, leading to his nickname of "the Petticoat Cardinal". He had four children by his Roman mistress - Pier Luigi, Paolo, Ranuccio, and Costanza - and later made sure that two of his grandchildren were appointed cardinals whilst still in their teens (probably the two "nephews" shown below, nephew being the euphemistic term often used to describe the children / grandchildren of Popes and Cardinals).

Another Titian portrait - older and with "Nephews" (to be found in the Galleria Nazionale Capodimonte, Naples - and there is a copy in the Farnese Palace)

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