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Collection

40

An Old Man and his Grandson

Qr Code

original title

Portrait d'un vieillard et d'un jeune garçon

The artwork

date

1490

details

Tempera on wood

Early Renaissance
Portrait
62 cm x 46 cm

Links

The artist

Domenico Ghirlandaio

1449

Italy

Where to see it

The Louvre Museum

"Learning never exhausts the mind."
Domenico di Tommaso Curradi di Doffo Bigordi

Why we love it

One of Ghirlandaio’s best-known works, it is considered notable for its emotional poignancy. Its realism has been described as unique among the portraits of the Quattrocento.

Ghirlandaio has presented the portrait in a naturalistic and sympathetic fashion, at variance with physiognomic theory of the era, which maintained a connection between external appearances and internal truths.

An extraordinary feature of the painting is the deformity of the man’s nose, evidence of rhinophyma that recently led to the writing of several medical essays.

This work is one of Ghirlandaio’s best-known paintings for its emotional poignancy and realism.

This is just our small contribution, your curiosity can do the rest.

Stories

“ Best grandpa ever”