NORTH ITALIAN SCHOOL, FIRST QUARTER OF THE 16TH CENTURY | PORTRAIT OF A YOUNG NOBLEMAN

The author of this striking portrait, who has yet to be identified, was a painter of considerable talent. Indeed, the quality of its execution is so high that for many years the canvas was thought to be by the Ferrarese artist, Dosso Dossi, and a depiction of the young Hapsburg Emperor Charles V or possibly his brother Ferdinand I (see, for example, the depiction Ferdinand I by Hans Maler in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) [1]. Recent scholarly opinion on both identifications varies to a wide extent, but general consensus would appear to place the picture in northern Italy, likely in the Veneto, and datable to the first quarter of the sixteenth century.

That the sitter has yet to be confirmed is all the more puzzling given the picture’s impeccable detail and specificity of execution. The artist reproduces the face of the handsome young nobleman with naturalistic precision, conveying the shape of his lips, almond eyes and sharp nose with careful individuality. The strict linearity of the face and clothing call to mind certain north Italian painters who took Germanic and Netherlandish contemporaries as a technical point of departure. In this respect, examples by Bartolomeo Veneto and Bernardino Campi may serve as close comparisons for identification for this beguiling and beautiful portrait.

1. In private correspondence, Dr. Hermann Voss previously proposed an attribution to Dosso Dossi.