TINTORETTO
(b. 1518, Venezia, d. 1594, Venezia)

Portrait of a Senator

c. 1570
Oil on canvas, 119 x 100 cm
Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

The senator is depicted as serious, austere and severe. His penetrating gaze is fixed on the viewer. He is dressed in ermine-lined robe of office and seems to emerge from the darkness, the black background seems to reinforce the sombre way in which he is depicted.