leadership of the council of State. After traveling with Charles from 1529 until 1533, Cobos's expertise in financial matters kept him in Spain, where he served as the effective head of government until his death. Patronage of the arts Cobos was able to amass vast riches in his work with the state. He was able to use some of his riches in fostering patronage and acquiring art. He met Titian and arranged for Emperor Charles V's portrait by the famed Venetian artist. One sad note was the loss during a shipwreck of a large assembly of Italian works, including a Pietá by Sebastiano del Piombo and a series of paintings from the City council of Lucca. Additionally, he was able to collect portraits of royalty and nobility, as well as exotic gifts brought to Spain after the conquest of the Aztecs and Incas. He is known to have given a now lost Aztec manuscript bound in jaguar skin to the historian Paolo Giovio in Naples. His patronage also led to the Italianate Renaissance architecture found in the town center of Úbeda. The Royal Palace of Valladolid was built by Cobos, who built it around a magnificent renaissance-styled courtyard nearby the residence of his in-laws (Palace of the Counts of Ribadavia). The palace later became the temporary residence of the Spanish Monarch from King Charles I of Spain to Queen Isabella II of Spain. References Further reading Keniston, Hayward. Francisco de los Cobos: Secretary of the Emperor Charles V. University of Pittsburgh Press, 1960. 1477 births 1547 deaths 16th-century people of the Holy Roman Empire People from Úbeda Government ministers of Spain