Portrait of an Elderly Man at The Louvre, Paris

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The bronze figure was reimagined atop a stone pedestal to represent the renowned sculptor Giambologna (1529 - 1608) in Cardinal Richelieu's collection of portraits showcasing artists. The unidentified model sports a long beard, a fashion trend prevalent in Venice around 1600. Giambologna (1529 – August 13, 1608) was a celebrated Flemish sculptor, recognized for his exceptional marble and bronze statuary crafted in the late Renaissance or Mannerist style. Born in Douai, Flanders (now part of France), Giambologna studied under the tutelage of architect-sculptor Jacques du Broeucq in Antwerp before relocating to Italy in 1550. He underwent a thorough study of classical antiquity's sculpture and was significantly influenced by Michelangelo. However, Giambologna developed his own distinct Mannerist style, characterized by an emphasis on refined surfaces, cool elegance, and beauty over emotion. Pope Pius IV entrusted Giambologna with his first major commission: the colossal bronze Neptune and subsidiary figures for the Fountain of Neptune (designed by Tommaso Laureti in 1566) in Bologna. Giambologna spent his most productive years in Florence, where he had settled in 1553. Ten years later, he was appointed a member (Accademico) of the prestigious Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, founded by Duke Cosimo I de' Medici on January 13, 1563, under the influence of painter-architect Giorgio Vasari. He also became one of the Medici's most important court sculptors. Giambologna passed away in Florence at the age of 79, as the Medici had never allowed him to leave, fearing he would be enticed into permanent employment by either the Austrian or Spanish Habsburgs. He was laid to rest in a chapel he designed himself within the Santissima Annunziata. Giambologna gained recognition for his exceptional sense of action and movement, as well as his refined, differentiated surface finish. His most celebrated works include Mercury (of which he created four versions), poised on one foot, supported by a gentle breeze. The god raises one arm to point heavenwards, adopting a gesture borrowed from classical rhetoric's repertory, characteristic of Giambologna's style. Giambologna also created numerous sculptures for garden grottos and fountains in the Boboli Gardens of Florence and at Pratolino, as well as the bronze doors of the cathedral of Pisa. For the grotto of the Villa Medicea of Castello, he sculpted a series of studies of individual animals from life, now displayed at the Bargello. Small bronze reductions of many of his sculptures were highly prized by connoisseurs in his time and continue to be cherished today, as Giambologna's reputation remains unscathed. He had a profound influence on later sculptors through his pupils Adriaen de Vries and Pietro Francavilla, who left his atelier for Paris in 1601. Additionally, Pierre Puget disseminated Giambologna's influence throughout Northern Europe, while in Italy, it was shared by Pietro Tacca, who assumed Giambologna's workshop in Florence, and Gian Lorenzo Bernini and Alessandro Algardi in Rome.