Portrait of an Old Man
late fifteenth century
Charcoal, with wet brush and stumping, on tan laid paper prepared with a gray ground
27.5 × 21.9 cm (10.8 × 8.6 in)
SEE IT IN PERSON
Not currently on view
In the collection of Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · as of July 2026
Discussion
FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG
This moving portrait of an old man was made in northern Italy probably in the last decade of the 1400s and is the oldest drawing in the Gray collection. The man’s highly realistic unshaven chin, wrinkled flesh, sunken cheeks and eyes, and thinning hair exemplify the Renaissance desire to be truthful to nature. About this drawing, collector Richard Gray once observed, “Everything about it is masterful—the way it depicts a unique individual in the fullness of his individuality, it’s not a type. It has presence.”
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