Scipione Pulzone
1576
Oil paint on copper
61.6 x 81.7 cm
This portrait depicts Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, one of the most powerful political figures of his time. As a trusted advisor to Philip II of Spain, he oversaw diplomatic negotiations on the King’s behalf. Granvelle was a keen art collector and owned, amongst other works, Landscape with the Flight into Egypt by Pieter Bruegel.
Unusually, this portrait is painted on a large sheet of copper rather than wood or canvas. Though valued for enhancing the colours of a painting, copper was expensive and rarely used in works of this size.