Portrait of a Gentleman in a Fur

A shadowy room hinted at by a wall, fluted pillar, and window forms the backdrop to the knee-length portrait of a man richly dressed in a black cloak lined with ermine fur. He looks intently towards the viewer. He has a long beard and short, greying hair. He holds a white handkerchief in his left hand and grasps the ermine lining of the cloak with his right.

The influence of Titian is evident, though Veronese managed to express his own style in the search for the individuality of the subject and, above all, through the technical mastery evident in the detailed and realistic rendering of the fur.

The painting's exact date of completion is unknown, varying from 1549 to 1570 at the broadest extremes. It portrays an unidentified character. Suggestions the figure is Daniele Barbaro seem unlikely when compared to a confirmed portrait of him at the Rijksmuseum.

At some point Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici purchased the painting through an agent.

Another version dated to circa 1555 and measuring 120 centimetres (47 in) by 102 centimetres (40 in) exists at the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest.[1] A certain T. Vercruyse or T. Ver. Cruyse dal Paradis also made engraved copies of the painting.

• Chiarini, Marco (1998). Galleria palatina e Appartamenti Reali (in Italian). Livorno: Sillabe. ISBN 978-8-8863-9248-8.