Decade 1520-1529
See also : Ancient painting Italy II Italian painting 1280-1700 Ancient Germany Holland II Ancient drawing Children Christianity Islam Cats
1520 Study for the Transfiguration
2012 SOLD 29.7 M£ including premium
The last twelve years of the short life of Raphael, from 1508 to 1520, marked an unprecedented success in the history of Western art.
Working directly for popes, cardinals and the powerful Medici family, Raphael manages a workshop of fifty artists whose production is prolific, but he himself designs the artworks, performs the preparation and executes the most important paintings.
The fashion of the time is for large-size frescoes and altar paintings prepared by innumerable drawings. Once the artist is satisfied with the composition, he pierces the latest drawings to transfer the lines into the final work. The pierced modello drawing of the head of a Vatican Muse was sold £ 29.1 million including premium at Christie's on December 8, 2009.
On December 5 in London, Sotheby's sells a drawing in black chalk, 38 x 28 cm, from the collection of the Dukes of Devonshire. It is illustrated in the article shared by Bloomberg.
This head of an apostle in meditation was made during the preparation of the Transfiguration, that huge oil on canvas, 405 x 278 cm, unfinished at the untimely death of the artist.
Completed by his studio, this monumental painting marks a turning point in Western art. The composition in two registers is bold. Above, Christ enters the light. The bright representation of the event is an iconographic challenge which anticipates Rembrandt.
Down on Earth, the apostles are attending a miracle by Christ, each one reacting in his own way. The care taken in the empathy between these men is announcing Mannerism and Baroque art.
The drawing for sale is not final and has not been pierced. This is a beautiful portrait of expression, with very nice thin line. It is estimated £ 10M.
POST SALE COMMENT
On December 8, 2009, a perforated drawing by Raphael showing the head of a Muse was sold £ 29.1 million including premium.
The head of a young apostle got an almost identical price: £ 29.7 million including premium. It is a great success for its owner, the Duke of Devonshire, possessor at Chatsworth of one of the best art collections in the world.
I invite you to play the videos shared by Sotheby's :
Working directly for popes, cardinals and the powerful Medici family, Raphael manages a workshop of fifty artists whose production is prolific, but he himself designs the artworks, performs the preparation and executes the most important paintings.
The fashion of the time is for large-size frescoes and altar paintings prepared by innumerable drawings. Once the artist is satisfied with the composition, he pierces the latest drawings to transfer the lines into the final work. The pierced modello drawing of the head of a Vatican Muse was sold £ 29.1 million including premium at Christie's on December 8, 2009.
On December 5 in London, Sotheby's sells a drawing in black chalk, 38 x 28 cm, from the collection of the Dukes of Devonshire. It is illustrated in the article shared by Bloomberg.
This head of an apostle in meditation was made during the preparation of the Transfiguration, that huge oil on canvas, 405 x 278 cm, unfinished at the untimely death of the artist.
Completed by his studio, this monumental painting marks a turning point in Western art. The composition in two registers is bold. Above, Christ enters the light. The bright representation of the event is an iconographic challenge which anticipates Rembrandt.
Down on Earth, the apostles are attending a miracle by Christ, each one reacting in his own way. The care taken in the empathy between these men is announcing Mannerism and Baroque art.
The drawing for sale is not final and has not been pierced. This is a beautiful portrait of expression, with very nice thin line. It is estimated £ 10M.
POST SALE COMMENT
On December 8, 2009, a perforated drawing by Raphael showing the head of a Muse was sold £ 29.1 million including premium.
The head of a young apostle got an almost identical price: £ 29.7 million including premium. It is a great success for its owner, the Duke of Devonshire, possessor at Chatsworth of one of the best art collections in the world.
I invite you to play the videos shared by Sotheby's :
1520 Portrait of Suleyman
2019 SOLD for £ 5.3M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2020
Mehmed the Conqueror, the seventh Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, broke the iconoclastic obligation of Islam. In 1479, to celebrate the peace treaty with the Republic of Venice, he wanted his portrait to be painted in the Western tradition by the best Venetian artist. Gentile Bellini carried out this mission to the greatest satisfaction of the Sultan. His image will also be used as a diplomatic gift.
This achievement generates a kind of frustration when Mehmed's successor returns to iconoclasm. Wealthy Venetian merchants who profit from the new Ottoman expansion would like to know what the "boss" looks like.
A new era opens in 1520 with the coming to power of Suleyman. Aged 26, he has global ambitions and a lot of skills. He will keep such promises : his reign of 46 years was the culmination of the Ottoman culture and he was nicknamed "the Magnificent" by Westerners for his activity as a legislator.
Upon his accession, an unidentified artist painted a portrait of Suleyman in profile in the style of Bellini, probably without having the formal permission of the Sultan. This image was reused in 1526 in Europe after Suleyman's victory over the Hungarians at the Battle of Mohacs.
An oil on panel 33 x 28 cm bearing the Latin inscription Suleiman Turchorum Imperator Maximus may well be the original version of this portrait. It was sold by Sotheby's on May 1, 2019 for £ 5.3M including premium over a lower estimate of £ 250K, lot 129.
This achievement generates a kind of frustration when Mehmed's successor returns to iconoclasm. Wealthy Venetian merchants who profit from the new Ottoman expansion would like to know what the "boss" looks like.
A new era opens in 1520 with the coming to power of Suleyman. Aged 26, he has global ambitions and a lot of skills. He will keep such promises : his reign of 46 years was the culmination of the Ottoman culture and he was nicknamed "the Magnificent" by Westerners for his activity as a legislator.
Upon his accession, an unidentified artist painted a portrait of Suleyman in profile in the style of Bellini, probably without having the formal permission of the Sultan. This image was reused in 1526 in Europe after Suleyman's victory over the Hungarians at the Battle of Mohacs.
An oil on panel 33 x 28 cm bearing the Latin inscription Suleiman Turchorum Imperator Maximus may well be the original version of this portrait. It was sold by Sotheby's on May 1, 2019 for £ 5.3M including premium over a lower estimate of £ 250K, lot 129.
#AuctionUpdate Royal Flush: This rare Venetian portrait of Ottoman Sultan Suleyman the Great was met with determined bidding, as three bidders pushed the price to £5,323,500 - 18 x its estimate! #SothebysMiddleEast pic.twitter.com/dyjutAPGnJ
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) May 1, 2019
1520 Virgin and Child by Gossaert
2015 SOLD for £ 4.6M including premium by Sotheby's
narrated in 2021
In 1509, Jan Gossart (Gossaert in Dutch spelling) spends a few months in Rome in the company of the sponsor of his entire career, a legitimated natural son of the Duke of Burgundy who would become Bishop of Utrecht. The artist was nicknamed Mabuse by transcription of Maubeuge where he was from. He might have met Michelangelo and Raphael who were working at the Vatican at the time, and brings to Flanders the new Italian trends. One of his specialties will be the mythological nude.
Mabuse's work is much varied, but also includes many repetitions of the Virgin and Child, which were arguably for him a significant commercial outlet. The attitudes, with the intrepid Child who would like to escape from the arms of the adoring Mother, seem more inspired by the reliefs of Donatello than by the later phase of the quattrocento.
A Virgin and Child, oil on panel 39 x 27 cm painted around 1520, was sold for £ 4.6M including premium by Sotheby's on December 9, 2015, lot 6. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Held on the edge of a table by the careful mother, the Child is in an unstable position barely rebalanced by his hand which grips the mother's chin. This composition is bold, and an expert believes that this image had been the left wing of a diptych. If so, he leans forward to communicate with the donor.
The child is beautiful, despite his hair that is too abundant for his age. The mother's garment is ultramarine blue, the most expensive pigment at that time.
Mabuse's work is much varied, but also includes many repetitions of the Virgin and Child, which were arguably for him a significant commercial outlet. The attitudes, with the intrepid Child who would like to escape from the arms of the adoring Mother, seem more inspired by the reliefs of Donatello than by the later phase of the quattrocento.
A Virgin and Child, oil on panel 39 x 27 cm painted around 1520, was sold for £ 4.6M including premium by Sotheby's on December 9, 2015, lot 6. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
Held on the edge of a table by the careful mother, the Child is in an unstable position barely rebalanced by his hand which grips the mother's chin. This composition is bold, and an expert believes that this image had been the left wing of a diptych. If so, he leans forward to communicate with the donor.
The child is beautiful, despite his hair that is too abundant for his age. The mother's garment is ultramarine blue, the most expensive pigment at that time.
1520 The Camerino of Alfonso d'Este
2021 SOLD for $ 6.2M including premium
Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, had a camerino installed in his palace after 1511. For this private gallery, he obtains the collaboration of the best painters around his favorite theme, the mythological scenes. Under the golden ceiling, the marble walls give the luxurious illusion of a room of alabaster. The last work by the very old Giovanni Bellini is made for the camerino. Titian collaborates after the death of Bellini.
Dosso Dossi was working for the Duke since 1514. His brother had been an assistant to Raphael. Dosso retained the innovations of Giorgione who was painting in successive pentimenti without preparatory drawing.
One of the basic elements of the camerino's decoration is a frieze of ten scenes from the Aeneid, probably hanging as a suite all around the room. They were painted in oil on canvas by Dosso Dossi around 1520. The activity is intense and picturesque, not without humor, in a very free interpretation of Virgil's poem.
The ten works were separated in the 19th century. Three of them have not resurfaced. A pair of these paintings, 58 x 168 cm each, will be sold on January 29 in New York by Sotheby's, lot 116 estimated $ 3M.
One of them deals with the plague in Pergamon, in a total opposition between the morbid desolation of the foreground and the cavalry of the emigrants which makes its show in the distance. The other is dedicated to the Sicilian Games, with details on competitions and trophies including a crowned ox. Fireworks appear behind a cavalry party. Juno disagrees.
Dosso Dossi was working for the Duke since 1514. His brother had been an assistant to Raphael. Dosso retained the innovations of Giorgione who was painting in successive pentimenti without preparatory drawing.
One of the basic elements of the camerino's decoration is a frieze of ten scenes from the Aeneid, probably hanging as a suite all around the room. They were painted in oil on canvas by Dosso Dossi around 1520. The activity is intense and picturesque, not without humor, in a very free interpretation of Virgil's poem.
The ten works were separated in the 19th century. Three of them have not resurfaced. A pair of these paintings, 58 x 168 cm each, will be sold on January 29 in New York by Sotheby's, lot 116 estimated $ 3M.
One of them deals with the plague in Pergamon, in a total opposition between the morbid desolation of the foreground and the cavalry of the emigrants which makes its show in the distance. The other is dedicated to the Sicilian Games, with details on competitions and trophies including a crowned ox. Fireworks appear behind a cavalry party. Juno disagrees.
#AuctionUpdate: Painted for Duke Alfonso I d’Este, these two magnificent canvasses by Ferrarese Renaissance artist, Dosso Dossi fetch $6.2 million – a new auction record for the artist. #SothebysMasters pic.twitter.com/73fKMYgZ52
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) January 29, 2021
1523 Head of Saint Joseph by Andrea del Sarto
2005 SOLD for £ 6.5M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2016 before the sale of another drawing by Gestas et Carrère (see below)
The drawing is a preparatory work indispensable to the painters of the later Renaissance. Raphael and Michelangelo produce high quality drawings which they retain as reusable models : these artworks are the ben finito cartoni.
Some copies are pierced to ensure an exact reproduction of the lines when executing the final painting. A black chalk drawing by Raphael, perforated for an application on the Vatican frescoes, was sold for £ 29.1M including premium by Christie's on December 8, 2009.
The red chalk or sanguine is also in use. The earliest artist who mixed the two chalks on a same drawing was probably Piero Pollaiuolo around 1470. Fra Bartolommeo followed this technique when he prepared a group of portraits around 1515.
In the abundant work of Andrea del Sarto, only three drawings in two chalks have survived. All three are studies of an old man's head for St. Joseph. Their applications for paintings made by this master in the 1520s have been identified with certainty.
In the following of Fra Bartolommeo, Andrea draws the main lines in black and inserts the sanguine to bring a fleshy effect on cheeks, lips and ears. The drawing is then providing a realistic impression that foresees the actual look of the painting.
One of the three drawings of St. Joseph is preserved at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Another one, 37 x 23 cm with a leg study in the sanguine on the back side, was sold for £ 6.5M including premium by Christie's on July 5, 2005, lot 14.
The third drawing was sold for € 3.9M including premium by Gesras et Carrère on December 17, 2016.
Some copies are pierced to ensure an exact reproduction of the lines when executing the final painting. A black chalk drawing by Raphael, perforated for an application on the Vatican frescoes, was sold for £ 29.1M including premium by Christie's on December 8, 2009.
The red chalk or sanguine is also in use. The earliest artist who mixed the two chalks on a same drawing was probably Piero Pollaiuolo around 1470. Fra Bartolommeo followed this technique when he prepared a group of portraits around 1515.
In the abundant work of Andrea del Sarto, only three drawings in two chalks have survived. All three are studies of an old man's head for St. Joseph. Their applications for paintings made by this master in the 1520s have been identified with certainty.
In the following of Fra Bartolommeo, Andrea draws the main lines in black and inserts the sanguine to bring a fleshy effect on cheeks, lips and ears. The drawing is then providing a realistic impression that foresees the actual look of the painting.
One of the three drawings of St. Joseph is preserved at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Another one, 37 x 23 cm with a leg study in the sanguine on the back side, was sold for £ 6.5M including premium by Christie's on July 5, 2005, lot 14.
The third drawing was sold for € 3.9M including premium by Gesras et Carrère on December 17, 2016.
1525-1527 The Young Writer in the Palazzo Corsini
2015 SOLD for $ 9.1M including premium
On January 30, 2013, a portrait of a young man from the later Renaissance went unsold at Christie's. It is listed again at Christie's, for sale at New York on January 28, lot 129 with a lower estimate that has been lowered to $ 8M.
Here is my post from 2013 :
Pontormo had a dual role in the history of art.
On one hand, his mythological and biblical works are at the origin of the mannerism with which the expression of the feelings supersede the realism of the attitudes.
On the other hand, he was lucky to be the most appreciated portrait painter to the court of Florence at a brilliant intellectual time when customers requiring for art were expanding beyond the ruling family.
In 1989 at Christie's, J. Paul Getty Museum purchased for $ 35M including premium the portrait of a halberdier, realized between 1528 and 1530 by Pontormo, which is still one of the highest prices recorded at auction for an ancient painting.
The portrait of a young writer has just resurfaced. This oil on panel, 94 x 78 cm, was described in 1842 in the collections of Palazzo Corsini. Its importance was not identified at that time and it was later known through a copy which was sufficient to state that it was not a work by Pontormo.
Its direct scrutiny now attributes it firmly to Agnolo Bronzino when he was a pupil of Pontormo. Vasari had already acknowledged the difficulty of separating the works of both artists and the fast and neat skill of the pupil. This observation is in good agreement with the very thin painting layer of our portrait of a writer.
The experts were able to identify the probable date of the work in comparison with other paintings by Bronzino : between 1525 and 1527.
Here is my post from 2013 :
Pontormo had a dual role in the history of art.
On one hand, his mythological and biblical works are at the origin of the mannerism with which the expression of the feelings supersede the realism of the attitudes.
On the other hand, he was lucky to be the most appreciated portrait painter to the court of Florence at a brilliant intellectual time when customers requiring for art were expanding beyond the ruling family.
In 1989 at Christie's, J. Paul Getty Museum purchased for $ 35M including premium the portrait of a halberdier, realized between 1528 and 1530 by Pontormo, which is still one of the highest prices recorded at auction for an ancient painting.
The portrait of a young writer has just resurfaced. This oil on panel, 94 x 78 cm, was described in 1842 in the collections of Palazzo Corsini. Its importance was not identified at that time and it was later known through a copy which was sufficient to state that it was not a work by Pontormo.
Its direct scrutiny now attributes it firmly to Agnolo Bronzino when he was a pupil of Pontormo. Vasari had already acknowledged the difficulty of separating the works of both artists and the fast and neat skill of the pupil. This observation is in good agreement with the very thin painting layer of our portrait of a writer.
The experts were able to identify the probable date of the work in comparison with other paintings by Bronzino : between 1525 and 1527.
ca 1520s A Child Prodigy in Leiden
2018 SOLD for £ 11.5M including premium
The city of Leiden has become rich thanks to its weaving industry. The crafts were also developed : printing press from 1483, glass etching, goldsmith's work. Its earliest important painter, Cornelis Engebrechtsz or Engelbrechtsz, who specializes in Biblical scenes, trains his sons and his apprentices.
A pupil of Cornelis, Lucas Hugensz is skilled for graphic arts. From his adolescence, he shows a great maturity. Beginning in 1508, his engraved work is important, with an abundance and sharpness of details and a beauty of contrasts that have enthralled Dürer. The colors of his paintings are the brightest of his time. He is known as Lucas van Leyden.
Lucas was born in Leiden. It is believed that his father was a painter. His date of birth is questioned. We do not know how he learned engraving or after whom he specialized in his genre scenes animated by crowds of characters. He married in Leiden in 1515 and died in 1533 at about 40 years old.
His biography is blurred by his praise by van Mander, born fifteen years after the death of Lucas, who could however have collected the memories of direct witnesses. Lucas appears passionate about his art from his childhood, working day and night until the exhaustion that will shorten his life.
The autograph works by Lucas van Leyden are extremely rare at auction. On December 4 in London, Christie's sells as lot 60 a 28 x 13 cm black chalk drawing of a richly dressed young man standing, probably a study for a detail of a composition that has not been identified. The watermark is known in Netherlands and Germany in the 1520s and 1530s.
This drawing belonged to the Rugby School and is sold for the benefit of its educational program. The September 10 press release announces an estimate in the region of £ 1.5M.
A pupil of Cornelis, Lucas Hugensz is skilled for graphic arts. From his adolescence, he shows a great maturity. Beginning in 1508, his engraved work is important, with an abundance and sharpness of details and a beauty of contrasts that have enthralled Dürer. The colors of his paintings are the brightest of his time. He is known as Lucas van Leyden.
Lucas was born in Leiden. It is believed that his father was a painter. His date of birth is questioned. We do not know how he learned engraving or after whom he specialized in his genre scenes animated by crowds of characters. He married in Leiden in 1515 and died in 1533 at about 40 years old.
His biography is blurred by his praise by van Mander, born fifteen years after the death of Lucas, who could however have collected the memories of direct witnesses. Lucas appears passionate about his art from his childhood, working day and night until the exhaustion that will shorten his life.
The autograph works by Lucas van Leyden are extremely rare at auction. On December 4 in London, Christie's sells as lot 60 a 28 x 13 cm black chalk drawing of a richly dressed young man standing, probably a study for a detail of a composition that has not been identified. The watermark is known in Netherlands and Germany in the 1520s and 1530s.
This drawing belonged to the Rugby School and is sold for the benefit of its educational program. The September 10 press release announces an estimate in the region of £ 1.5M.
On 4 December Christie’s will present 'Old Masters/New Scholars: Works of Art to Benefit Rugby School,' led by a rare drawing by the Dutch Old Master painter and printmaker Lucas van Leyden.
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) October 7, 2018
Find out more about the sale here:https://t.co/AYcX38U2C7 pic.twitter.com/qNFrXbi61L
1527 Portrait of Sibylle of Cleves by Cranach
2008 SOLD for $ 7.7M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
The reigning dynasties of Germany position themselves in relation to Luther's new faith. The Elector Friedrich III of Saxony managed to maintain equality between the parties. His brother Johann, who succeeded him in 1525, promoted Lutheranism to the rank of state church. Duke Johann III of Cleves annexed by his marriage the duchies of Jülich and Berg. He was a protector of Erasmus.
A marriage seals the alliance between these two dynasties. The engagement was celebrated in September 1526. Johann Friedrich, 23, the eldest son of the elector of Saxony, was one of Luther's most ardent supporters. Sibylle, 14, is the eldest daughter of the Duke of Cleves. The marriage took place in June 1527.
Cranach has been a court painter for the Saxon Electors in Wittenberg since 1504. Much linked to Luther, he was in 1525 the godfather of his first child.
Two portraits by Cranach of Sibylle during the engagement phase are known. She wears the crown of virgins which guarantees her virtue until her marriage. She is standing in three quarter length, her hands gently joined on the waist. The face is still juvenile. The 57 x 39 cm painting kept at Weimar Castle is dated 1526.
The other painting is an oil on panel 53 x 38 cm. The lively gaze and the smile display a better presence. The symbols of the two families are woven within the dress. It is signed by the serpent, used by Cranach instead of a monogram for his official paintings.
The portrait of Sibylle of Cleves was sold for $ 7.7M including premium by Christie's on April 15, 2008, lot 12. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
A marriage seals the alliance between these two dynasties. The engagement was celebrated in September 1526. Johann Friedrich, 23, the eldest son of the elector of Saxony, was one of Luther's most ardent supporters. Sibylle, 14, is the eldest daughter of the Duke of Cleves. The marriage took place in June 1527.
Cranach has been a court painter for the Saxon Electors in Wittenberg since 1504. Much linked to Luther, he was in 1525 the godfather of his first child.
Two portraits by Cranach of Sibylle during the engagement phase are known. She wears the crown of virgins which guarantees her virtue until her marriage. She is standing in three quarter length, her hands gently joined on the waist. The face is still juvenile. The 57 x 39 cm painting kept at Weimar Castle is dated 1526.
The other painting is an oil on panel 53 x 38 cm. The lively gaze and the smile display a better presence. The symbols of the two families are woven within the dress. It is signed by the serpent, used by Cranach instead of a monogram for his official paintings.
The portrait of Sibylle of Cleves was sold for $ 7.7M including premium by Christie's on April 15, 2008, lot 12. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
later 1520s The Ordeal of the Lion
2015 SOLD for £ 9.3M including premium
Lucas Cranach the Elder enjoyed all topics related to morality, not without humor. On July 8 in London, Sotheby's sells a Bocca della Verita painted at the end of the 1520s. This oil on panel in large size, 111 x 100 cm, is estimated £ 6M, lot 8.
The artist transposes a medieval ordeal with characters in clothes of his time. The mouth of truth is a lie detecting test to convict or release the adulteress. Included in the legends of Tristan and Iseult and Merlin, this story was previously used by illustrators including Altdorfer and Lucas van Leyden.
Each character has a role. The woman puts a hand in the mouth of the lion raised on a pedestal to be at her level. She is held at the waist by her supposed lover disguised as a fool. Two men wait to establish the minutes of justice.
The alleged cuckolded husband is on the far right of the picture, opposite to the lion. He is accompanied by two lovely ladies who are his witnesses. At his side, a last character sends a wink of complicity towards the viewer of the painting.
This is not a comic book and the verdict of the lion is not known. The lack of fear in the attitude of the woman tells that she wants to win the ordeal. The scene becomes a funny symbol of feminine cunning.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's :
The artist transposes a medieval ordeal with characters in clothes of his time. The mouth of truth is a lie detecting test to convict or release the adulteress. Included in the legends of Tristan and Iseult and Merlin, this story was previously used by illustrators including Altdorfer and Lucas van Leyden.
Each character has a role. The woman puts a hand in the mouth of the lion raised on a pedestal to be at her level. She is held at the waist by her supposed lover disguised as a fool. Two men wait to establish the minutes of justice.
The alleged cuckolded husband is on the far right of the picture, opposite to the lion. He is accompanied by two lovely ladies who are his witnesses. At his side, a last character sends a wink of complicity towards the viewer of the painting.
This is not a comic book and the verdict of the lion is not known. The lack of fear in the attitude of the woman tells that she wants to win the ordeal. The scene becomes a funny symbol of feminine cunning.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Sotheby's :
1529 Portrait of a Halberdier by Pontormo
1989 SOLD for $ 35M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
Jacopo da Pontormo is developing a new pictorial style in Florence, emphasizing psychological expression and storytelling over realism. He is a forerunner of both mannerism and baroque art. A pupil of Andrea del Sarto, he is also a follower of Piero di Cosimo. He is a fresco and portrait painter.
The Portrait of a Halberdier is an oil (or oil and tempera) on panel transferred to canvas 95 x 73 cm. This arrogant young man with a smooth and beardless face who is bulging his chest to the limit does not look like an infantry soldier. He is too richly dressed : he is an aristocrat.
By its military theme, this image enters into the context of the siege of Florence by the imperial armies in 1529. This date is all the more plausible as it corresponds to the period of greatest creativity of Pontormo, who will soon cease to resist his mental disorders.
Under these conditions, the young man is probably Francesco Guardi, aged fifteen. The wearing of the halberd would be a pun associated with the function of guardian evoked by his patronym.
The Portrait of a Halberdier was sold for $ 35M including premium by Christie's on May 31, 1989. It was purchased at this sale by the J. Paul Getty Museum. The image is shared by Wikimedia. Because of its great pictorial quality, experts want to recognize in this portrait a work that was specifically admired by Vasari.
The Portrait of a Halberdier is an oil (or oil and tempera) on panel transferred to canvas 95 x 73 cm. This arrogant young man with a smooth and beardless face who is bulging his chest to the limit does not look like an infantry soldier. He is too richly dressed : he is an aristocrat.
By its military theme, this image enters into the context of the siege of Florence by the imperial armies in 1529. This date is all the more plausible as it corresponds to the period of greatest creativity of Pontormo, who will soon cease to resist his mental disorders.
Under these conditions, the young man is probably Francesco Guardi, aged fifteen. The wearing of the halberd would be a pun associated with the function of guardian evoked by his patronym.
The Portrait of a Halberdier was sold for $ 35M including premium by Christie's on May 31, 1989. It was purchased at this sale by the J. Paul Getty Museum. The image is shared by Wikimedia. Because of its great pictorial quality, experts want to recognize in this portrait a work that was specifically admired by Vasari.
