<div class="description">
This imaginary portrait of a classical poet was part of a series of nine celebrated poets painted for the ducal court at Mantua. Following Caravaggio’s lead, Fetti chose as his model an ordinary man, depicted without idealisation and with a strong physical presence. The poet is portrayed as a mature man with a weather-beaten face and an inward-looking expression. His balding head is crowned with laurels, since antiquity a mark of distinction reserved for the victor, whether emperor or poet. A soft light is focused on the sensitively modelled face and powerful hands. Fetti brings to life the inspired poet beneath the coarse exterior, offering the viewer a portrait of the classical poet as intensely human as it is distinctly unheroic.</div>
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Domenico_Fetti" class="extiw" title="w:en:Domenico Fetti"><span title="Italian painter">Domenico Fetti</span></a>
</bdi>
between circa 1620 and circa 1621 <div style="display: none;">date QS:P,+1620-00-00T00:00:00Z/8,P1319,+1620-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1326,+1621-00-00T00:00:00Z/9,P1480,Q5727902</div> <a href="https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18601404#P571" title="Edit this at Wikidata"><img alt="Edit this at Wikidata" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/10px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png" decoding="async" width="10" height="10" style="vertical-align: text-top" srcset="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/15px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 1.5x, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg/20px-OOjs_UI_icon_edit-ltr-progressive.svg.png 2x" data-file-width="20" data-file-height="20"></a>
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://collection.nationalmuseum.se/eMuseumPlus?service=ExternalInterface&amp;module=collection&amp;objectId=23757&amp;viewType=detailView">  Erik Cornelius / Nationalmuseum</a>