North Italian School, circa 1560
THE PROPERTY OF A NOBLEWOMAN
North Italian School, circa 1560

Portrait of a bearded Gentleman, bust length, wearing a black jacket with a white ruff collar, a fur-lined coat and a black hat

Details
North Italian School, circa 1560
Portrait of a bearded Gentleman, bust length, wearing a black jacket with a white ruff collar, a fur-lined coat and a black hat
Inscribed on the relining canvas 'Silo Card Valenti - No 410.'
oil on canvas
23 x 18¼in. (58.5 x 46.3cm.)
In an Italian carved and gilded 17th Century frame with cresting-and-cabling raised inner edge.
Provenance
Cardinal Silvio Valenti Gonzaga (1690-1756), Villa Valenti Gonzaga a Porta Pia (now in the Villa Paolina or Bonaparte), Rome.
Don Enrico dei Principe Ruspoli, Castello Ruspoli, Nemi, Italy.
Donna Eugenia Ruspoli, Palazzo Ruspoli, Rome, and by descent to the present owner.

Lot Essay

The present picture belonged to Cardinal Silvio Valenti Gonzaga (1690-1756), who was one of the greatest art collectors and patrons of his day, acquiring over eight hundred paintings which were housed in a casino designed by Panini adjoining his villa. Many of his most prized possessions, including what appears to be the present painting, are shown in the well-known imaginary view of his gallery commissioned from Panini in 1749 and now in the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford (Fig. 1; F. Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini e i fasti della Romana del '700, 1986, p. 430, no. 400, illustrated, and p. 159, pls. 166-7; and G. Briganti, L. Trezzani, L. Laureati, I Bamboccianti: Pittori della vita quotidiana a Roma nel Seicento, 1983, p. 152, pl. 514: a detail of the left hand side of the Wadsworth Panini). Valenti Gonzaga, born in Mantua, went at an early age to Rome, where he had a brilliant career, becoming a Cardinal in 1738 and two years later Secretary of State under Pope Benedict XIV.

A pre-1763 inventory of Valenti Gonzaga's collection published by Carlo Pietrangeli in Villa Paolina, 1961 refers to no. 410 as 'Quadro di Palmi 2., once 7. per altezza, e palmi 2. per larghezza, rappresentate Ritratto di un Uomo colla Pelliccia, e Collaro, in tela, maniera Veneziana'.