Portrait of Charles de Guise, Cardinal de Lorraine

The old reinforcments (22 cm at the top, 11.5 cm at the sides and bottom) were removed or covered in 2000.
Charles de Guise (1525-1574), Archbishop of Reims, was one of the leaders of the Spanish Catholic Party at the court of the last Valois. The parrot, Italian 'papagallo' points as a pun (Papa gallo = Gallic pope) to the ambitions of the cardinal.
A contemporary reproduction engraving (parrot replaced by cross) and several old copies are known.
The attribution to El Greco is based on stylistic considerations and is agreed upon by most scholars.