LEONI, Leone
(b. 1509, Menaggio, d. 1590, Milano)

The Emperor Charles V Restraining Fury

1551-55
Bronze, height 251 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

The Emperor Charles V was sensitive about his political image. Admittedly the project for an equestrian statue by Leoni in 1546 came to nothing but the group of The Emperor Charles V Restraining Fury, once in the Alcazar at Toledo, inaugurated the type of allegorical monument based on the theme of St Michael and the dragon, used again by Leoni for Ferrante Gonzaga at Guastella and in France under Louis XIV.