Man with a White Beard

The unknown subject looks directly at the viewer. Dressed in a coat that almost entirely disappears into the darkness of the background, he holds the fur trimming with his left hand to keep the coat closed. Tintoretto uses this trick to distance the subject from the viewer despite the direct eye contact. He gives the man’s skin a tone that corresponds with his dark-red shirt and emphasises the varied structure and quality of his hair and beard. With simple compositional means and striking illumination, Tintoretto gives his aged subject a strong presence, individuality and “spiritual beauty”, a quality that is increasingly found in Tintoretto’s late portraits. Contrary to long-held assumptions, the painting is now ascribed to Tintoretto himself and no longer to his son Domenico. It owes its popularity in Austria not least to the role it played as a persistently recurring motif in Thomas Bernhard’s comedy "Alte Meister" (1985) (Old Masters, 1989). © Cäcilia Bischoff, Masterpieces of the Picture Gallery. A Brief Guide to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna 2010