Portrait of an Old Man and a Young Boy by Ghirlandaio in the Louvre, June 2014

Domenico GHIRLANDAIO (Florence, 1449 - Florence, 1494)

Portrait of an Old Man and a Boy

c. 1490

H. 0.62 m; W. 0.46 m

Acquired in 1880 , 1880

R.F. 266

This moving portrait of a boy with an aged Florentine patrician disfigured by rhinophyma - acne rosacea - may in fact have been painted after the death of the latter: the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm has an excellent Ghirlandaio drawing showing the same man full face, with his eyes closed and apparently on his deathbed.

The painting may also have allegorical significance.

Text from: www.louvre.fr/en/oeuvre-notices/old-man-young-boy