Portrait of Daniele Barbaro

Portrait of Daniele Barbaro
ArtistPaolo Veronese
Yearc. 1556–1567
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions121 cm × 105.5 cm (48 in × 41.5 in)
LocationRijksmuseum, Amsterdam

The Portrait of Daniele Barbaro is an oil on canvas painting by the Italian Renaissance master Paolo Veronese, from c. 1556-1557. It is held in the Rijksmuseum, in Amsterdam. Daniele Barbaro was a member of the Venetian aristocracy (see Barbaro family). He was an important prelate, humanist and architectural theorist, who commissioned a number of works from Veronese. Veronese had been involved directly with Barbaro and his brother Marcantonio Barbaro, decorating the Villa Barbaro, Maser, which Palladio designed.

Barbaro, who was Patriarch of Aquileia, is dressed as a bishop. From 1561 he was also a cardinal; although this appointment was in pectore (not made public) he is sitting in the audience posture (reserved normally for Popes and cardinals).

The book standing up is the La Practica della Perspettiva, Barbaro's treatise on artistic perspective.[1] The other volume on the table is Barbaro's "Commentary" on Vitruvius' De architectura,[2] which has illustrations by Andrea Palladio. Barbaro's Commentary on Vitruvius was published in Italian in 1556, but the portrait may be linked to the publication of a second edition in Latin in the 1560s.

  1. ^ (in Italian) Il Rituale… article by Maurizio Nicosia
  2. ^ Rijksmuseum Accessed December 2008 (when this source referred to the painting being in London on loan from the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam).