Portrait of a Gentleman
c. 1505
Medium
Oil, with tempera (?), on panel, transferred to canvas
Dimensions
68.2 × 49.2 cm (26 11/16 × 19 3/8 in.); Framed: 94.7 × 77.5 × 8.3 cm (37 1/4 × 30 1/2 × 3 1/4 in.)
Classification
painting
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
16151
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The unknown sitter in this arresting portrait wears a furlined robe and capuccio, a hood rolled up and worn as a hat—both conventional apparel for well-to-do Florentine merchants. Ridolfo Ghirlandaio’s pyramidal presentation of the sitter and use of active, searching light reveal his study of portraits by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. The son of renowned Florentine painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo successfully continued the family workshop well into the 16th century.
About the Artist
Ridolfo Ghirlandaio · 1483–1561
Ridolfo Ghirlandaio, born Ridolfo di Domenico Bigordi on February 14, 1483, in Florence, emerged as a leading figure in the Florentine Renaissance painting tradition. The son of the renowned artist Domenico Ghirlandaio, he lost his father at age eleven in 1494 and was raised by his uncle Davide Ghirlandaio, who assumed leadership of the family workshop. Ridolfo trained initially under his father, ...