The Portrait of Giulio Clovio is an oil painting on the table (58 × 86 cm) of El Greco made in about 1571 and kept at the National Museum of Capodimonte in Naples.
The work, commissioned by Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, was performed during the stay of the Cretan artist in Rome, around 1571. As part of the Farnese collection, the canvas was inherited in Carlo da Borbone in 1734 and finally transferred to Naples.
The subject represents the celebrated Giulio Clovio miniaturist, named by Giorgio Vasari: "Michelangelo delle miniature".
Giulio Clovio, a miniaturist born in Croatia in 1498, was one of the artists who contributed to making El Greco settle in Rome. In this portrait, the artist is depicted with his most famous text: The Virgin's Book of Ages.
In the background you can see a landscape with a stormy sky. The artist's face and details of the gown and other elements of the scene highlight the enormous quality of the painter's first portraits, as well as the coevent boy painting blowing on a tizzon lighted, also made during the Roman years and also kept in the National Museum of Capodimonte.
Finally, this is the oldest portrait created by El Greco that came to us. Bibliografiamodifica wikitesto
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