Titian - The Portrait of Ranuccio Farnese

There is a Titian room at Washington National Gallery of Art. What I like most from all his works on display there is this portrait. Everything is greatly rendered: the contrast (both subtle and striking) between the age of the boy and his obvious high rank, the subtle differences in the nuances of red in his tunic, and the look: shy and firm, innocent and aware of his position and power.

The boy would become Archbishop of Naples at the age of fourteen, and he later would serve as Bishop of Bologna, Archbishop of Milan and Ravenna, and Cardinal Sant'Angelo, dying at the age of thirty-five (NGA).





(Washington DC National Gallery of Art)


(Titian)