Monsignor della Casa

Italienische Malerei 1535–1583, probably 1541/1544

A light-skinned man with short, auburn-brown hair and a long beard is shown from the hips up, his chest and sloping shoulders covered by a muted cobalt-blue cape in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left and he looks at us from the corners of his brown eyes under curving, low brows. His head, torso, aquiline nose, and hands are slightly elongated. He holds a black hat in his right hand, on our left, close to his body. His left hand emerges from a white sleeve painted with swirling brushstrokes, as he presses a small book to his chest, holding it open with one page caught between thumb and index finger. The lower edge of his cape drapes over that arm, revealing rose-pink lining. He stands with his back to a grayish-green wall that does not span the width of the composition. Slivers of other spaces, possibly rooms, are suggested by tall, narrow views of windows and arched openings along the sides of the painting.
Artist
Italienische Malerei 1535–1583
Date
probably 1541/1544
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
102 × 78.9 cm
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licence
Public domain, CC0

Image description

A light-skinned man with short, auburn-brown hair and a long beard is shown from the hips up, his chest and sloping shoulders covered by a muted cobalt-blue cape in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left and he looks at us from the corners of his brown eyes under curving, low brows. His head, torso, aquiline nose, and hands are slightly elongated. He holds a black hat in his right hand, on our left, close to his body. His left hand emerges from a white sleeve painted with swirling brushstrokes, as he presses a small book to his chest, holding it open with one page caught between thumb and index finger. The lower edge of his cape drapes over that arm, revealing rose-pink lining. He stands with his back to a grayish-green wall that does not span the width of the composition. Slivers of other spaces, possibly rooms, are suggested by tall, narrow views of windows and arched openings along the sides of the painting.

Italienische Malerei 1535–1583