(Venice, c. 1548–1628)
Portrait of a bearded man, half-length,
oil on canvas, 76 x 66,5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Mauro Lucco for confirming the attribution after examining the present painting in the original.

In the present painting Palma il Giovane creates a portrait of the “in movement” type (see S. Mason Rinaldi, Palma il Giovane. L’opera completa, Milan 1984, p. 80). The figure is portrayed with the head turned to the right, looking at something that is outside of the composition, while his hand in foreground points in the opposite direction. The same contrapost is visible in other male portraits by Palma il Giovane such as the Portrait of a Collector (City Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham) and the Portrait of a Gentleman (The Art Institute, Chicago).

Here the artist avoids additional elements such as curtains, columns or windows, which were often employed to construct space, in order to concentrate attention on the sitter who is depicted alone against a simple plain background.

The strong and incisive characterization of the head, as well as the deep geometric folds apparent in the drapery in the present portrait, show strong similarities to Palma il Giovane´s portraits in the Ospedaletto dei Crociferi in Venice (see S. Mason Rinaldi ibid., 1984, p. 27, fig. X). The way that the face is constructed in the present painting is also similar to the manner in which Palma depicted himself in one of his Self-Portraits (Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia, Venice; see S. Mason Rinaldi ibid., 1984, p. 356, no. 418).