Artwork
Portrait of a Gentleman
Portrait of a Gentleman is an oil painting by the Mannerist artist Lorenzo Lotto. It dates from 1535 and is held in the collection of the Borghese Collection.
About this work
Overview
Lorenzo Lotto’s oil painting known as Portrait of a Gentleman dates to around 1535 and is held in Rome’s Galleria Borghese. The work depicts a bearded man in a dark robe, seated with his right arm resting on a table, against a landscape that includes a river, hills and a window opening onto a scene of Saint George slaying a dragon.
Subject & Meaning
Scholars have debated the sitter’s identity; one proposal links him to the Albanian mercenary leader Mercurio Bua, who served Venice and died in 1542.
Scholars have debated the sitter’s identity; one proposal links him to the Albanian mercenary leader Mercurio Bua, who served Venice and died in 1542. Supporting details include a melancholy hand gesture toward the spleen, two rings on his forefinger, and a black costume appropriate to a widower, as Bua was after 1524. Symbolic objects—a skull and scattered flower petals—suggest themes of mortality and mourning.
Technique & Style
Lotto employs chiaroscuro to model the figure, creating a three‑dimensional presence through contrasts of light and shadow. The composition balances the sitter’s solemn pose with a detailed background, where the window frames a narrative episode of Saint George, a motif favored by the Balkan diaspora in Venice. The brushwork and color palette align with Lotto’s mid‑1530s oeuvre.
History & Provenance
The portrait first entered documented history in an 1790 inventory of the Galleria Borghese, where it remains today. Earlier attributions mistakenly identified the work as a self‑portrait of Lotto, but the presence of memento mori symbols and the sitter’s attire have led scholars to reject that view, favoring a portrait of a contemporary gentleman instead.
Artist & collection
Artist
Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480 – 1556/57) was an Italian Renaissance painter, draughtsman, and illustrator, traditionally placed in the Venetian school, though much of his career was spent in other north Italian cities. He…
Portrait of a Gentleman
Portrait of a Knight of the Order of Santiago
Portrait of a Man
Portrait of Benedetto Varchi
Portrait of Giacomo di Andrea Dolfin
Lorenzo Soranzo
Portrait of a Young Man (possibly Melchior von Brauweiler, 1515–1569)
Portrait of a Gentleman
Portrait of a bearded man, aged 34, before an extensive landscape
Untitled
Sir Peter Carew (1514 - 1575)
Portrait of an man with circle and paper roll