Why it matters
A gentleman in black with a white ruff lays his hand on his chest, perhaps in the act of taking an oath. The most famous of El Greco's portraits of unknown gentlemen, it has been identified as the Marquis of Montemayor, as Cervantes and even as a self-portrait.
Did you know?
- It was painted in Toledo around 1580.
- It is one of the earliest works El Greco painted in Spain.
- The Prado finds the Montemayor identification the most convincing.
Based on the Wikipedia article The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest (CC BY-SA 4.0).
