Portrait of a Young Gentleman

By 1600 El Greco had been living in Toledo for two decades, a Greek from Crete who had passed through Venice and Rome before settling in the spiritual capital of Catholic Spain. Alongside his great altarpieces he painted a steady stream of portraits of the city's gentlemen, and this is one of them. The huge stiff white ruff crushing up under the chin helps date it to right around the turn of the century, when Spanish fashion demanded exactly that. For a long time people thought the young man was a local poet, Baltasar Elisio de Medinilla, but that idea has fallen away and his name is simply lost. What survives is the face, built up from quick, decisive dabs and highlights that keep it strangely alive.