Portrait of a bearded man, bust-length, in a red gown

This hitherto unpublished portrait is a notable addition to Jacopo Tintoretto's late oeuvre. In the 1570s and 1580s Tintoretto was much in demand, working extensively at the Scuola Grande di San Rocco as well as playing a major role in the redecoration of the Doge's Palace after the fires of 1574 and 1577. As a result of this Tintoretto was able to produce fewer portraits than previously. Nevertheless those that he did paint tended to concentrate on the inner personality of the sitter and, as here, are inbued with a deep sense of humanity. One might cite as an example the Portrait of an old man in a fur-trimmed coat in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, dated to the early 1570s. The use of a strong but more restricted palette in his later portraiture resulted in works of a particularly dramatic nature, as evident in his Portrait of Giovanni Mocenigo, in the Staatliche Museen in Berlin, also shown in three-quarter profile.