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An Old Man and his Grandson
Domenico Ghirlandaio · Renaissance & Mannerism
- Artist
- Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448–1494)
- Date
- c. 1490
- Dimensions
- 62.7 x 46.3 cm
- Medium
- Tempera on panel
- Location
- Musée du Louvre, Paris, France
This tender double portrait shows an elderly man in a red robe holding a small boy, who reaches up to touch his chest and gazes adoringly into his face. Through a window behind them stretches a winding landscape.
A closer look
Ghirlandaio painted the old man's face with unflinching honesty: his nose is swollen and covered with bumps, a skin condition now identified as rhinophyma. Yet the boy looks at him with pure love, and the old man returns the gaze with gentle warmth. The contrast between age and youth, between the bulbous nose and the child's smooth profile, makes the picture deeply moving. It is one of the most human portraits of the Renaissance, celebrating affection rather than beauty or rank.