''Portrait of Giulio Clovio'' is a c.1571 painting by

El Greco Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...

. It was commissioned by

cardinal Alessandro Farnese Alessandro Farnese (5 October 1520 – 2 March 1589), an Italian cardinal and diplomat and a great collector and patron of the arts, was the grandson of Pope Paul III (who also bore the name ''Alessandro Farnese''), and the son of Pier Luigi Farn ...

during the artist's stay in Rome. It formed part of the

Farnese collection The classical sculptures in the Farnese Collection, one aspect of this large art collection, are one of the first collections of artistic items from Greco-Roman Antiquity. It includes some of the most influential classical works, including the sc ...

. Charles of Bourbon inherited it in 1734 and moved it to Naples, where it now hangs in the

Museo nazionale di Capodimonte Museo di Capodimonte is an art museum located in the Palace of Capodimonte, a grand Bourbon palazzo in Naples, Italy. The museum is the prime repository of Neapolitan painting and decorative art, with several important works from other Italian ...

. Its subject

Giulio Clovio Giorgio Giulio Clovio or Juraj Julije Klović (1498 – 5 January 1578) was an illuminator, miniaturist, and painter born in the Kingdom of Croatia, who was mostly active in Renaissance Italy. He is considered the greatest illuminator of the It ...

(born 1498, Croatia) was a noted miniaturist, called "the

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (; 6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known as Michelangelo (), was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was insp ...

of the miniature" by

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...

. He had helped El Greco settle in Rome. He is shown holding his most famous text, the ''Libro d'Ore della Vergine''. In the background is a landscape and a stormy sky.

Bibliography

* J. Álvarez Lopera, ''El Greco'', Madrid, Arlanza (2005), Biblioteca «Descubrir el Arte», (colección «Grandes maestros»). * M. Scholz-Hanzsel, ''El Greco'', Colonia, Taschen (2003). {{ISBN, 978-3-8228-3173-1 Clovio, Giulio category:1570s paintings category:16th-century portraits Farnese Collection Paintings in the collection of the Museo di Capodimonte