Portrait of an architect, possibly Carlo Fontana (1634/38–1714), half-length, in a black cape over a white shirt, holding the plan of a church

The attribution of this intriguing picture, as well as the identity of the sitter, are yet to be established with certainty. It was sold in these Rooms in 1879, when it was described as a self-portrait by Bernini, but neither the handling nor the physiognomy of the sitter support that description. When it resurfaced and was again sold in these Rooms, in 2002, Mary Newcombe tentatively proposed an attribution to the Genoese artist Luciano Borzone, while Deborah Howard, of Cambridge University, remarked that the building plan appeared too small to be much more than a garden pavilion; she noted that the niched central space may derive from the work of Francesco di Giorgio and other Renaissance buildings, such as the Odeo Cornaro in Padua, designed by Giovanni Maria Falconetto in 1524.
We are grateful to Christopher Tadgell for kindly sharing his thoughts on this picture. He notes that the plan the sitter holds may be the work of a follower of Carlo Fontana, and that the figure himself shows some resemblance to known engraved portraits of Fontana. A significant architect in the development of Baroque style in Rome, Fontana worked closely with Bernini for many years and was behind some of the major projects in the city during the second half of the seventeenth century.