North Italian School, mid-16th Century

Dan Fellows Platt, Englewood, New Jersey, by 1911;
Anonymous sale ('The Property of a Gentleman'), London, Christie's, 10 April 1981, lot 54 (as Francesco Salviati), for £5,500 to Martins;
Anonymous sale, London, Sotheby's, 2 July 1986, lot 108 (as Francesco Salviati), for £13,000.

New York, Four Centuries of Portraits, 1945, no. 12 (as (as Francesco Salviati);
New York, Wildenstein & Co., Italian Paintings, 1947, no. 19 (as Francesco Salviati);
Houston, Allied Arts Association, Masterpieces of Painting through Six Centuries, 1952, no. 5 (as Francesco Salviati);
London, Wildenstein & Co., Portraits: 15th to 19th Centuries, 10 July - 10 August 1963, no. 12 (as Francesco Salviati).

F. Mason Perkins, "Dipinti italiani nella raccolta Platt", in Rassegna d'arte, vol. XI, January 1911, p. 3, reproduced as frontispiece (as Francesco Salviati; an attribution first suggested to him by Bernard Berenson);
F.M. Clapp, Jacopo Carucci da Pontormo: his life and work, New Haven 1916, pp. 196-97 (as Francesco Salviati); 
A. Van Vechten Brown & W. Rankin, A Short History of Italian Painting, London & New York 1914, (ed. 1921), p. 398 (as Francesco Salviati);
A. Venturi, in Storia dell' Arte Italiana, Milan 1933, vol.  IX, part 6, p. 213 (as Francesco Salviati);
J. Alazard, Le Portrait Florentin de Botticelli à Bronzino, Paris 1938, p. 197 (as a follower of Francesco Salviati);
I. Cheney, "Notes on Jacopino del Conte", in Art Bulletin, 1970, pp. 32-40, footnote 51 (as close to Jacopino del Conte);
I. Cheney, "A 'Turrist' Portrait by Jacopino del Conte", in Source, 3, 1982, pp. 17-20 (as by Jacopino del Conte);
L. Mortari, Francesco Salviati, Rome 1992, pp. 154-55, no. 146, reproduced (under dubious or erroneous attributions, as not by Francesco Salviati).

"The following condition report has been provided by Henry Gentle, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. The fine original canvas is lined. There is a retouched addition along the top edge and a repaired vertical hairline tear beneath the neckline. The naturally thin paint layer is visibly abraded and there is paint loss in the shadow of the face; retouching is to found liberally across the surface, and quite extensively in the flesh tones of the face, to reduce this abrasion. Other areas where the canvas texture is visible through the paint layer have been left un-restored. The varnish is only moderately discoloured."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Despite being the subject of much debate, this portrait  still evades a convincing attribution. The painting spent much of the 20th century given to Francesco Salviati; an attribution that was first suggested by Bernard Berenson, who kept a photograph of this painting in his archive at Villa I Tatti. Mason Perkins published the painting as a work by Salviati for the first time in 1911 and Clapp and Venturi subsequently endorsed the attribution. Cheney was the first to doubt the attribution, favouring Jacopino del Conte instead, and Mortari most recently published the work as not by Salviati, under dubious and erroneous attributions.