No surviving sources mention how, when or by whom the work was commissioned. Whilst in Emilio it was mentioned in a catalogue as a 'three-quarter length portrait on canvas of the cardinal of Sant'Angelo', attributed to Titian and given the catalogue number 66. Like all the other Titians in the Farnese collection, it was then mentioned in the inventories of the
Palazzo del Giardino in
Parma in 1680 before being selected as one of the works "worthy" of being moved to the new galleries at the
palazzo della Pilotta, also in Parma. A copy by an artist in Titian's circle was recorded at the
Palazzo Farnese in Rome (inv. n. 33) before following a similar trajectory to the original work, being recorded at the Palazzo del Giardino in Parma (inv. n. 228), then at the Palazzo della Pilotta in Parma (inv. n. 290), then in Naples and finally in the
Reggia di Caserta, where it now hangs. In 1734 the original work and the rest of the
Farnese Collection were inherited by the family's last heir
Elisabetta Farnese, who then passed it to her son
Charles – it was thus moved with much of the collection in Emilio to Naples. It was looted by French troops in 1799 during their establishment of the
Parthenopean Republic.
Ferdinand IV sent Domenico Venuti to search for works of art taken from Naples as well as new additions to his collections. Venuti found the portrait in Rome in 1800 awaiting shipment to France and reclaimed it, though on its return to Naples it was hung not at Capodimonte but the
palazzo di Francavilla. This meant that it stayed in Naples for the ten years of French rule from 1805 onwards, unlike the other Titians from his collection which Ferdinand took with him on fleeing to
Palermo. It was then recorded as hanging in Naples'
Palazzo Reale until 1831, when it returned to the new Real Museo Borbonico in the Palazzo degli Studi (which now houses the
National Archaeological Museum, Naples), where it was referred to as a "portrait of Cardinal Santangelo holding gloves, by Tiziano Vecellio". At the end of the 19th century some critics doubted it was an autograph work by Titian due to the poor state of preservation into which it had fallen, but conservation work in the 1990s has restored the original pigments, including the green curtain and the glow on the left of the work, showing them to be completely in harmony with works definitely produced during Titian's brief stay in Rome. ==See also==