Portrait of a gentleman, half-length, wearing a red cap

We are grateful to Dr. Bodo Brinkmann for placing this portrait in the orbit of the painter, graphic artist and stained-glass designer, Niklaus Manuel Deutsch on the basis of a photograph. Brinkmann notes that idiosyncratic details such as the proportion of the torso relative to his head, the thick neck, the slightly awkward gaze, treatment of the garment and the delicate coloring all suggest an artist who was familiar with his work, circa 1520. Infrared reflectography reveals a confident underdrawing that is, however, stylistically distinct from Deutsch's work, which tends to be looser and eschews hatching.