Dutch School, 18th Century Trompe L'Oeil Still Life of a Wooden Board with an Engraving of Titian's Gentleman in Blue Secured with a Red Wax Seal

oil on canvas, unframed

Sotheby's London, December 15, 1976, lot 38 (as by C.N. Gysebrechts)

J. Kugel, Paris, 1985

This painting reproduces the engraving by Reinier van Persijn (1614-1688) after Titian's painting, Gentleman in Blue in the National Gallery, London (inv. 1944).  Although today scholars are uncertain of the identity of the sitter in Titian's portrait, at the time it was thought to depict Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533), the Italian poet best known for his epic Orlando furioso, which continues Matteo Maria Boiardo's (1441-1494) Orlando Innamorato and recounts the fantastical adventures of Charlemagne and Orlando as they battle the Saracen armies.  Indeed, the lines of text beneath the image of the sitter refer to the Orlando furioso and may even reproduce stanzas from the poem.