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4. The Portrait of Matthias – Reality and Ideal
The chief criterion of likenesses of rulers at that time was not authenticity or recognisability, but an expression of the idealised image of the ruler and of his virtues. There is a clear division between representations of Matthias in the Gothic and the renaissance styles. Typical of the former is the image of the King seated on the throne, looking ahead, holding the sceptre and the orb (the 1464 royal seal, the picture in the Thuróczy Chronicle, and the Matthias memorial in Bautzen [Germany], where the figure of the King is crowned by two angels emerging from under a curtain). Portraits in the classical style probably date from the second half of the 1480s. Coins of two types depict Matthias in profile, with a laurel crown on top of abundantly-falling hair, on the pattern of Roman Emperors. This was also the model for likenesses of the King included in some Corvina codices, and it was from the coins that the bust of King Matthias was carved on the famous double portrait.
These reflected the lion-like facial expression modelled on Alexander the Great, and these features also appeared in humanist depictions of Matthias. A similar pose is seen on the painting which the Giovio collection in Como regards as a copy of a portrait of Matthias painted by Mantegna. The original of another type was probably a painting held in the imperial collections in Vienna. The same family of likenesses includes a painting in Wiener Neustadt, the precursor of which Matthias donated to when the city was captured in 1487. In this set of portraits, the bearded and moustached King is shown face on.
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