Which Raphael portrait of a Renaissance writer is in the Louvre?

Raphael’s Louvre portrait of the Renaissance writer Baldassare Castiglione is Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione.

Painted around 1514–1515, the oil portrait shows Castiglione, an Italian diplomat, humanist, and author associated with the court of Urbino. He is best known for The Book of the Courtier, a widely influential dialogue about courtly behavior, education, style, and the ideal Renaissance gentleman. Raphael and Castiglione were friends, which gives the work an unusually personal character.

The sitter appears against a subdued brown background in dark clothing trimmed with fur, with his face, shirt, and hands providing the principal highlights. The restrained pose and soft modeling emphasize intelligence and sensitivity rather than official rank. The painting is now in the Louvre and bears the museum’s inventory number INV 611.

It is often confused with Raphael’s Portrait of Pope Julius II, another major portrait by the artist in the Louvre. The School of Athens is also by Raphael, but it is a monumental Vatican fresco, not a portrait of a Renaissance writer.