An Old Man and His Grandson
c. 1490 · Tempera on panel · Musée du Louvre, Paris
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About this work
- Artist
- Domenico Ghirlandaio (1448–1494)
- Year
- c. 1490
- Medium
- Tempera on panel
- Original size
- 62.7 × 46.3 cm
- Collection
- Musée du Louvre, Paris
- Movement
- Renaissance
An old man in a red robe and hood looks down tenderly at a fair-haired boy in red who reaches up to his chest and gazes into his face; the man's nose is swollen and misshapen by the skin condition rhinophyma, painted without disguise, and a window behind opens onto a winding road, a pointed blue mountain and trees. Domenico Ghirlandaio painted the panel in tempera in Florence in about 1490. Despite the traditional title, the sitters are unknown; their clothes show they were well-to-do, and the portrait may have been commemorative. A drawing by Ghirlandaio of the same man, once owned by Giorgio Vasari and now in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm, may have been made after his death and served as a death mask for the painting. The interior setting with a landscape view had become common in Italian portraiture by the later fifteenth century. Nothing is known of the picture's history before 1880, when the Musée du Louvre acquired it, after it had been turned down by the museum in Berlin because of its condition.
This exhibition-poster edition shows the whole work beneath original typography set in-house. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
An old man and a small fair-haired boy in matching reds before a window on a blue mountain, tender and direct, for a living room, landing or family room at 16×24 in natural wood. A warm white, stone or soft green wall; it pairs with The Child's Bath.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Exhibition poster of a Renaissance painting
- Era
- 15th century (c. 1490)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Palette
- cream & beige
- Mood
- intimate
- Rooms
- living room, hallway or entryway, dining room, dorm room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. Exhibition posters sit best in a slim black frame with no mat — the typeset margin is the mat.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is An Old Man and His Grandson in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was An Old Man and His Grandson painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
A fine-art print
The same artwork as a clean fine-art print — the image shown large with a minimal caption.
