Il Giulio Cesare di André Thevet: un ritratto pastiche del secolo XVI

This paper examines the engraved portrait of Julius Caesar illustrated in André Thevet’s Les Vrais Pourtraits et Vies des Hommes illustres Grecz, Latins et Payens (1584). Thevet claims he received this authentic image from Cardinal Farnese, but it is actually a pastiche: the face is inspired by a Renaissance plaquette, while the armoured body comes from the colossal statue of Caesar on Capitoline Hill. The composition also includes a sceptre surmounted by an eagle, known from numerous coin sources, and a book, emblem of Caesar’s literary activity. The portrait is thus a combination of various elements that reflect, once again, Thevet’s already well-established habit of validating the authenticity of his iconographic sources with incorrect and/or invented statements.