Portrait of Pope Innocent X — Diego Velázquez

A pope glares out of a storm of red — cape, cap, chair and curtain all blazing crimson. Diego Velázquez painted Innocent X in Rome around 1650 and refused to flatter; when the Pope saw it he is said to have muttered just two words: “Troppo vero” — too true. Widely held to be one of the greatest portraits ever painted.