TIZIANO Vecellio
(b. 1490, Pieve di Cadore, d. 1576, Venezia)

Man with a Glove

1520-22
Oil on canvas, 100 x 89 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

The sitter on the painting is an unknown young man. It is remarkable that the energetic hands of the man get a special emphasize in the composition.

Here the muted grays, blacks and whites make individual highlights of colour - such as the sitters blue eyes, red lips, and flushed ear lobes, and the chain around his neck — all the more prominent. The casual though clearly contrived pose, emphasized by the signet ring on his right hand, together with the unified use of colour, clearly differentiate this portrait from Titian's portraits of rulers, which are characterized by stiff poses and a colourful splendour.