Dating to the mid-1520s, this intensely austere portrait of a man wearing a black beretta is a rare example of a painting of this genre by Dosso Dossi, a Ferrarese artist most recognized for his paintings of religious or secular subjects. Although a paucity of examples and information on Dosso’s exploration of portraiture exists, he is recorded on occasion as having captured the likeness of leading families of the period, including the Este family and the daughters of Isabella of Aragon. Since first published by Longhi in 1956, this portrait has been consistently given to Dosso by art historians. Most recently, Mauro Lucco has attempted to put order to the group of portraits given to Dosso.^[1] He considers the present picture, along with the Portrait of a Man in the Louvre (fig. 1),^[2] as central to the understanding of Dosso's corpus of portraits, which remains today a still evolving question. Lucco draws further visual parallels in his entry to other secular works by Dosso, including the figures in the artist’s ceiling roundel from the Camera del Poggiolo (circa 1524-1526)^[3] as well as with some of the characters in his famed set of seven allegorical rhomboids likely painted for Duke Alfonso’s bedroom.^[4]

An old label on the reverse of the painting ascribes the painting to Dosso but describes it as a “supposed portrait of Christopher Columbus,” an unlikely identification for the sitter. Although the identity of this mysterious sitter remains unknown, it seems most plausible that he is someone from the Ferrarese court.

We are grateful to Mauro Lucco for his assistance in the cataloguing of this lot.

^[1] For a full discussion, see Lucco, 1998, pp. 229-230, and cat. nos. 44-49.

^[2]  Lucco 1998, pp. 235-236, cat. no. 45, reproduced. Oil on canvas, 95 by 77 cm.

^[3] Lucco 1998, pp. 187-190, cat. no. 32.

^[4] Lucco 1998, pp. 158-170, cat. no. 26, in particular cat. no. 26c.