Portrait of a gentleman, three-quarter-length, in a red coat and a blue waistcoat with gold embroidery, holding a book and a tricorn hat, with a bronze statuette of the Venus de' Medici on the table, the Colosseum in the distance

While the sitter in this portrait remains unidentified, his dress - particularly his scarlet coat - suggests that he was one of the many Grand Tourists who had their likeness captured by Batoni during their stay in Rome. The perfect souvenir of an educational voyage to the Italian peninsula, this painting presents the young gentleman as the consummate, erudite aristocrat. He appears in an interior before a window overlooking perhaps the most iconic of Roman buildings, the Colosseum, pensively meeting the viewer's gaze while exuding a cool and controlled confidence. Casually leaning against the stone column, he holds a leather-bound book in his right hand with his finger tucked inside to keep his page marked, a traditional conceit often employed by the artist in his portraits. The sitter gestures with his left hand to a map of Italy which lies on the table in front of him, suggesting that he has been diligently studying the history, geography and culture of this foreign land. Also present on the table is a bronze statuette of the Medici Venus, which at the time was one of the most famous antique sculptures in all of Italy. The original marble statue had been in the Villa Medici in Rome perhaps as early as the end of the sixteenth century, but by the time the present portrait was painted, it had been sent to Florence, where it may still be seen today in the Uffizi. Dated by Clark and Bowron to circa 1758-1759 (loc. cit.), the present painting is the only known portrait in which Batoni chose to use this accessory, and moreover, the artist never included the statue in any of his other compositions.