Giovanni Battista Moroni

Went the other day to the Moroni exhibition at the Royal Academy. I was very drawn to the intimacy of the smaller portraits. My favourites were the ones with simplest clothes and settings - where there was nothing to distract you from the direct gaze of the subject. This one, with a monk just turning and catching your eye was really beautiful.

I also really loved sense of calm and contemplation in the portrait above. The faces are so honest and immediate.

And the one of the man with the red beard made me smile - he would not look out of place on Broadway Market on a Saturday morning.