Portrait of Joseph Antoine Monticelli

The man in this portrait was family. Joseph Antoine Monticelli was the painter's grandfather, and this is one of the rare times Monticelli, who spent most of his career on flowers, garden parties and imagined scenes, turned his brush on someone close to him and named the sitter. The handling is quieter than his decorative pieces. The face is built up out of warm shadow, with the dark coat and background left broad and plain so that attention stays on the features. There is no anecdote here, no costume and no crowd, only an old man set down with evident care. The museum can date it no more precisely than the second half of the 19th century.