The Thursday Ramble: Something about this painting

The remnants of a tropical storm blew through last Friday, it was cool, only getting up to 82(f), with light rain. I took advantage of the day to take the train into the city for a walk.  It started to rain, so I went into the National Gallery of Art to walk.  I can walk in their for a couple of hours. Much of it remains constant, the sculpture changes little, the religious art changes little.  There was a new exhibition of photographs, that was hosting a press event and not open to the public. 

Up on the top floor there is a new exhibit of paintings from the renaissance. A lot of Dutch and Flemish masters, and England. And a room filled with masterworks from Florence in Italy. I like this stuff.  I remember the first time I encountered a wall full of it in the National Portrait Gallery in London back in 1990.  I sat down and stared for five minutes.  My soon to be ex, thought I had lost my mind.  On the contrary, I think I had found it.  

After walking for about an hour, I sat down for a few minutes on a very comfy grey leather chair.  I watched the people, and I spent a few minutes looking closely at the paintings around me. My style is usually to glance and walk, glance and walk, but not really linger of paintings. Sitting there I lingered.  

The painting above caught my eye.  It also caught the eye of other passers by who stopped to study, to read the curators notes, and stare some more.  It is a portrait of a Medici who was assassinated.  In all likelihood it was painted after his death. That explains some of it, but there is still something that looks strange.  To me, it looks like they painted his head on backwards, or his face on the back of his head with his hair over where his face should be.  Now maybe he was just a strange looking guy.  But the squareness of the shoulders, and lack of any shape in the torso, makes it look more like his back, than his front.