This mature gentleman appears in Giovanni Bellini’s Homage to Christ in the Temple (around 1490-1500). There is not a lot of information about this painting, but there is an air of peace around the subject. Perhaps he is a saint. The style of painting feels old-fashion but also modern. Romantic, and yet realistic.

His wavy beard looks soft to the touch, and his strong eyebrows and brave eyes give Bellini’s Renaissance Man a look for the ages.

Compare him to another man, roughly the same age, pictured below. Domenico Ghirlandaio’s Portrait of an Old Man with his Grandson (c. 1490) is a popular painting in the Louvre Museum. Maybe it’s where the phrase “warts and all” originated. The way grandpa is looking at the cute baby makes me think he’s nice and all, but would it have killed Ghirlandaio to clean up the man’s rosacea a little?