"Pope Paul III or Alessandro Farnese ", 1534 Tiziano Vecellio (known as Titian) (c. 1488/1490 - 1576) Kunshistorishes Museum, Vienna, Austria

Among the many portraits of this pope, those by Tiziano are most telling. His humanist education was at the court of Lorenzo de Medici. His sister was the mistress of Pope Alexander VI who appointed him as Cardinal (he became known as the "Borgia brother-in-law"). He was Pope or senior Bishop of the Roman Catholic Church from 1534 to 1549. To resist the Reformation, he created new orders, including the Jesuits, and convened the Council of Trent in 1545. His "Sublimus Dei" is described as the most important document addressing native Indian human rights. However, in 1548 he authorized the purchase of Muslim slaves in his Papal states. The Farnese Palace in Rome is a standing emblem of how this Pope strived to make his family prosperous.