(Parma documented 1606–1607)
Portrait of the Farnese court dwarf Giangiovetta, bust-length,
oil on paper laid down on canvas, 40 x 32.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Ader, Tajan, 27 June 1991, lot 155 (as Attributed to Pierre Dumonstier the Elder);
with Galleria Zogia, Venice;
with Marcon, Padua;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Giuseppe Bertini for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a high-resolution digital photograph.

This painting is a significant work by the Flemish painter Johann Gersmueter whose pictures are rare. It relates to two other portraits of the Farnese court dwarf Giangiovetta, one in the Galleria Nazionale di Parma (full-length, 159 x 115 cm, inv. no. 294) and another in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna (oval, bust-length, 46 x 38.5 cm, inv. no. 199).

Documents indicate that Johann Gersmueter executed at least three portraits for the Farnese in 1606 (see G. Bertini, Johann Gersmueter’s portrait of a dwarf of the Farnese Court, in: The Burlington Magazine 134, 1992, p. 179). The Mastri Farnesiani of 1597 and 1599 refer specifically to Giangiovetta himself and record expenses incurred to purchase clothes ‘for the dwarf Giovanni Gioietta’ (see op. cit. Bertini, 1992,
p. 179). Indeed, in the present painting he is very elegantly dressed. His ruff indicates a high social rank and the status he enjoyed in his role at the Farnese court.

The artist depiction of the subject’s features appears somewhat melancholic. His depiction shows details that emphasise an interest in details characteristic of Northern European style of painting. Gersmueter’s work recalls that of court painters such as Frans Probus the Younger, active in Italy between 1599 and 1609, or Giovanni Bahuet (circa 1552–1597), both of whom worked for the Gonzaga court in Mantua.