Crown of Pope Julius II, 1938 (colour litho)

Tiara made for Julius II (1443-1513) Pope (1503-13); covered in pearls, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, diamonds and pearls, and surmounted by dragons supporting an urn and a cross; the the symbolism of the three crowns is not clear but may represent(in ascending order) the Church’s triple authority, temporal, ecclesiastical, and heavenly; stolen and destroyed by French troops from the Vatican in 1798; an emerald from the tiara was recovered by Napoleon and set in a new tiara given by him to Pope Pius VII in 1805; from a series of illustrations of famous royal crowns published by the cigarette manufacturer, Godfrey Phillips, to coincide with the public interest in royalty and regalia after the coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in 1937;