Portrait of Pope Gregory XIII

This portrait appeared in the publication ACCVRATAE EFFIGIES PONTIFICVM MAXIMORVM, NVMERO XXVIII… compiled the Augustinian Onofrio Panvinio (1529–1568), who was librarian to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese. It was published in Strasbourg in 1573 and included 28 portraits of pontiffs, from Urban VI to Gregory XIII. The Pope is shown wearing his robes and tiara. On the left is his coat-of-arms, with the half-figure of a bird supplemented by the symbols of the Holy See – the tiara and St Peter’s keys. The decorative frame enclosing the tondo portrait was one of four variants used in the series. On the left is a female figure with a celestial globe above her head, a laurel wreath and laurel branch as an embodiment of spirituality. On the right is another female figure with a terrestrial globe. Her head is embellished with the fruits of the earth. In one hand she holds a chain in the other a sceptre. These stand for material matters. Gregory XIII (Ugo Boncompagni) was head of the Catholic Church from 1572 to 1585 and is best remembered by posterity for the reform of the Julian Calendar with the new, Gregorian, version being named after him.