Portrait of a gentleman, three-quarter-length, in a black doublet, cloak and cap, standing beside a table with a bronze model of the Laocoon group

This elegant and enigmatic portrait, the attribution of which is yet to be established with certainty, shows affinities with the Lombard tradition of portraiture, especially with the school of Cremona. On the other hand, a painter of Spanish origin has not been excluded, and would be coherent with the activity of painters such as Sofonisba Anguissola or Antonis Mor.
The Laocoon group, a gilt bronzetto of which is included in this portrait, was discovered on 14 January 1506 in a vineyard on the Colle Oppio in Rome, and was excavated in the presence of Michelangelo and Giuliano da Sangallo. Acquired immediately by Pope Julius II, it was moved to the Statue Court in the Vatican Belvedere, marking the birth of the Vatican Museum. Among the first copies is possibly that executed by Baccio Bandinelli, now in the Uffizi, Florence. This sculpture had an extraordinary influence on Renaissance and Baroque art via copies - cast, drawn and printed - that immediately started circulating throughout Europe after its discovery.