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Lot Essay
This powerful portrait was first attributed to the Florentine master, Francesco Botticini by Berenson in 1909: it was recently exhibited as by the artist in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, but is, however, rejected from his oeuvre by Venturini in her monograph.
It would seem to date from the 1470s and reveals a strong debt to northern artists, both in the angle at which the sitter is portrayed and in the use of a partly oil-based medium. Tuscan parallels for the latter are offered in a number of pictures of the decade by Piero del Pollaiuolo and associates of Andrea del Verrocchio. Although a southern French origin has been proposed for this panel, it would appear to be an Italian production. Renaissance portraits can be difficult to attribute, and there are substantial gaps in knowledge of portraiture in Rome and elsewhere, where Florentine influence was pronounced. This example suggests an experience of the young Perugino and possibly of Melozzo da Forli, whose frescoed portrait group of the della Rovere family is, of course, different not only in medium, but also in scale and function.
It would seem to date from the 1470s and reveals a strong debt to northern artists, both in the angle at which the sitter is portrayed and in the use of a partly oil-based medium. Tuscan parallels for the latter are offered in a number of pictures of the decade by Piero del Pollaiuolo and associates of Andrea del Verrocchio. Although a southern French origin has been proposed for this panel, it would appear to be an Italian production. Renaissance portraits can be difficult to attribute, and there are substantial gaps in knowledge of portraiture in Rome and elsewhere, where Florentine influence was pronounced. This example suggests an experience of the young Perugino and possibly of Melozzo da Forli, whose frescoed portrait group of the della Rovere family is, of course, different not only in medium, but also in scale and function.