Portrait of a Man

Corneille de Lyon · c. 1555

Medium

Oil on panel

Original size

24 × 18.5 cm (9 7/16 × 7 5/16 in.); Framed: 35.3 × 30.5 × 4.5 cm (13 7/8 × 12 × 1 3/4 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Mannerism

Portrait of a Man is a quietly commanding work — small in scale, yet startling in its intimacy and psychological presence. Corneille de Lyon spent decades as the preeminent portraitist at the French court, painting nobility, diplomats, and members of the royal household from his studio in Lyon. His signature style is immediately recognisable: small panel portraits set against flat, jewel-toned backgrounds — usually a deep teal or blue-green — that throw the sitter's face into sharp relief. He worked with a restrained, almost miniaturist precision, capturing the texture of fabric, the line of a jaw, and the particular quality of a gaze with economy and confidence. This portrait, dated to around 1555, exemplifies that approach: the unknown sitter rendered with directness and dignity, the handling of paint controlled but alive. Despite his prominence in his own lifetime — he was granted French citizenship and appointed court painter to Henri II — Corneille de Lyon remained relatively obscure to later centuries, and many of his works survive without firm attribution or identified sitters. This hand-painted oil reproduction honours the original's careful naturalism and tonal restraint, delivering the same sense of quiet encounter that has made Corneille's portraits so enduringly affecting.