For his "Portrait of a Man" Raphael chose the half-length figure that Leonardo had made popular. A bright, extensive landscape above the black wall forms a picture in its own right, framing the subject’s head. The portrait was long thought to be of Guidobaldo I di Montefeltro (1472–1508) because a later inscription on the back of the canvas identifies the sitter as the Duke of Urbino. The work is now considered to bear insufficient resemblance to confirmed portraits of Guidobaldo, however, and the subject remains unidentified. It is not even apparent whether the sitter is a ruler or a member of the aristocracy or the patrician classes as most Renaissance portraits did not feature indications of status such as coats of arms; only the type of clothing denoted a superior social position.
The picture has been dated c. 1502/04. It shows some similarity with portraits by Perugino, for instance his Francesco delle Opere of 1494 (Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence). The Liechtenstein picture was also taken to be Perugio’s work for a time. The attribution to Raphael is based on the fact that it corresponds stylistically with his works of this period such as the Portrait of Agnolo Dono (1506, Galleria Palatina, Florence). The limited number of mainly strong colours suggests Raphael. They relate consistently to the forms which are based on distinct drawing, and emphasize the clear structure of the composition. Such harmony and balance are among the chief characteristics of the Italian High Renaissance. In the portrait, too, they are associated with a degree of idealization in which the individual becomes an allegory of the universal. |
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Oil on panel
height 48 cm, width 37 cm
Inv.-No. GE36
Provenance: before 1823 Borio Collection in Bologna; 1823 acquired by Prince Johann I von Liechtenstein as a work by Rapahel from the dealer Carlo Gamora in Vienna
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