Man with a White Beard 

Jacopo Tintoretto painted this portrait of a man with a white beard in Venice, Italy, using oil on canvas. Tintoretto built up the image in layers, starting with thin washes of brown and grey and moving towards the bright white of the beard, which appears to lift off the surface of the painting, towards the viewer. The dark background and clothing are typical of Venetian portraiture, and would have been achieved through grinding and mixing dry pigments with linseed oil to create a paste-like paint. The painting feels modern because Tintoretto was less concerned with a smooth, polished surface than with capturing the essence of his subject. The visible brushwork adds an intensity and immediacy to the painting, reminding us of the physical act of its creation. Ultimately, paintings like this demonstrate that the value of a work of art resides not only in its subject matter but also in the artist's labor, skill, and creative choices. This challenges the traditional hierarchy between art and craft, highlighting the importance of materiality and process in understanding the full meaning of an artwork.