As heir to the Austrian Habsburgs, to Mary of Burgundy, and to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V had vast possessions both in continental Europe and in the New World. Not surprisingly, his image was reproduced by countless contemporary artists in paintings, engravings, sculpture, coins and medallions. With the emergence of a new historicism in the nineteenth century, figures such as Charles V once again became fashionable subjects for artists to depict. The present work therefore follows in a long tradition, and may refer specifically to earlier treatments of the emperor such as the bronze bust executed by Leone Leoni in 1555 (op. cit., Brussels, No. 9), or his relief of the same year (op. cit., Bruges, No. 104). Although the artist of this bust has not been positively identified, Lami notes that Emmanuel Frémiet (1824-1910) exhibited a marble bust of the emperor at the Paris Salon of 1882 (op. cit., p. 413).