Antonio Moro

Moro, Antonio (äntō'nyō mô'rō), c.1519-c.1575, Flemish portrait painter, known as Antonis Mor or Moor and as Sir Anthony More. He studied with Jan van Scorel. In 1547 he was a free master at Antwerp and by 1549 was employed as a court painter to the house of Hapsburg. In the early 1550s he visited Italy, Spain, Portugal, and London, painting state portraits, including a famous one of Mary Tudor (1554; Prado). In his later years, while maintaining a house at Utrecht, Moro traveled widely and made additional trips to Italy and Spain. Influenced by Titian, he in turn had a strong effect upon the development of international court portraiture. His figures exhibit an incisive characterization, strong modeling and sharp lighting, and a careful attention to details, textures, and finished surfaces. His portrait subjects include William of Orange (1556; Cassel), Alessandro Farnese (1557; Parma), the artist Hubert Goltzius (1576; Brussels), and a self-portrait (1559; Uffizi).