Ritratto di cardinale

Raphael painted this in Rome around 1510, at the height of his years working for the popes, and for all his skill he left us a mystery. We do not know who the cardinal is. The scarlet silk of the mozzetta is painted with astonishing precision, the light sliding across it, and the face above is cool, sharp and guarded, giving almost nothing away. Scholars have gone through the lists of cardinals of those years looking for a man to match that impenetrable look, and the name most often proposed is Francesco Alidosi, a powerful and much-feared figure who died in 1511. Others have suggested Bibbiena or Sauli. The portrait keeps its own counsel, much as its sitter seems to. What is certain is the eye Raphael brought to a single seated man, watchful and entirely still.