Cleveland Museum of Art

Portrait of an Old Man

Giulio Campi

Date

mid-1500s

Medium

oil on wood

Culture

Italy, 16th century

Department

European Painting and Sculpture

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Part of a distinguished family of Northern northern Italian painters, Campi depicts his sitter with an unidealized face dominated by carefully observed wrinkles. He stares out intently while grasping what may be a letter with its paper seal broken in his right hand. Despite this intense gaze the figure does not establish a lively connection with the viewer, and his mood remains distant and reserved, in keeping with Renaissance ideas about elegant comportment. Though his costume appears plain, the sumptuous black fabric was indicative of high status in some parts of Europe. --Michele Frederick (December 2011)

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.