
Wikimedia Commons • Public Domain
by El Greco
Copenhagen, Denmark
Permanently housed
El Greco completed this portrait around 1575, during his Italian period before moving to Spain. The sitter has traditionally been identified as Andrea Palladio, the famous architect, though this identification remains uncertain. The man gazes directly at us with notable intensity.
El Greco created this work while in Rome, where he moved in intellectual circles connected to the Farnese family. Before that, he had studied under Titian in Venice, and the Venetian influence shows in the warm tones and careful modeling of the face. A chalk holder on the armrest and a book with colored bookmarks suggest the sitter was an artist or scholar.
The oil on canvas measures 116 x 98 cm and hangs at the National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen. The painting's subdued palette and stark simplicity focus all attention on the man's expressive face and hands. This Mannerist approach to portraiture shows El Greco developing the psychological intensity that would characterize his later Spanish major works.

Jacob Jordaens
National Gallery of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst), Copenhagen, Copenhagen

Caspar David Friedrich
National Gallery of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst), Copenhagen, Copenhagen

Salvator Rosa
National Gallery of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst), Copenhagen, Copenhagen

Lucas Cranach the Elder
National Gallery of Denmark (Statens Museum for Kunst), Copenhagen, Copenhagen
Other masterpieces from the Renaissance movement

Raphael, 1510
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Sandro Botticelli, 1482
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Titian, 1555
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

Raphael, 1511
Vatican Museums, Vatican City

Raphael, 1512
Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, Dresden

Sandro Botticelli, 1485
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Titian, 1538
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence

Sandro Botticelli, 1476
Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Florence
Luxury wall art with the same mood and energy. Gallery-quality canvas, no museum crowds.
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