Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha (c. 1478–1546), also known as Khair ad-Din (Goodness of the Religion [of Islam]) and in Europe as Barbarossa (Red Beard), was the admiral of the Turkish navy under Suleiman the Magnificent, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Barbarossa’s command helped to establish Turkish supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea. Agostino Veneziano has rendered him as an imposing man, his dramatically lit figure filling nearly the entire composition of the print. By publishing this engraved portrait of Barbarossa in 1535, Veneziano sought to capitalize on European interest in the Ottoman admiral, not least because his fleet had been defeated by the navy of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V that same year.