Portrait of a Man in Armour

The 30-year-old admiral (his age is stated on the base of the column) remains unidentified. He is wearing a magnificent suit of armour from the period around 1540. In the 1550s Tintoretto frequently used contrasts in the Manneristic style in order to achieve an intensification of expression. Here we have a pose in keeping with the subject’s station contrasted with a character portrait, shining steel with dull stone, detailed proximity with vague atmospheric distance.