Portrait of a man in armour, possibly Ercole Pio di Savoia, signore di Sassuolo,
bears inscription and date: HERCVLI. ILLIO. DE. SAB[audia]. VIX DVM | PVERITIAM.
EGRESSO. PRE= | CLAROQ[ue] TIROCIN | IO. FVTVRAE. VIRTV= | TIS.
HAVD. DVBIA SIGNA | PRAEBENTI. DVM. BELLO. SE | NENSI. LEVIS.
ARMATVRAE. EQ. | VITIBUS. IMPERARET | 1550.,
oil on panel, 82.5 x 61 cm, framed

Provenance:
sale, Dorotheum, Vienna, 15 October 1996, lot 48 (as Circle of Giovanni Battista Moroni, Portrait of Carlo Gonzaga);
Private collection, Vienna

Literature:
L. Ventura, ‘Per il desiderio d’haver tutti i ritratti de’ signori di casa Gonzaga’. Il ritratto del principe nelle corti gonzaghesche tra Oglio e Po, in: R. Roggeri/L. Ventura (eds.), I Gonzaga delle nebbie. Storia di una dinastia cadetta nelle terre tra Oglio e Po, exhibition catalogue, Cinisello Balsamo 2008, pp. 61-62, fig. 13 (as Anonymous, Carlo Gonzaga?)

The present painting is registered in the Fototeca Zeri under no. 27850 (as ‘Anonimo mantovano sec. XVI’).

We are grateful to Paolo Bertelli for his help in cataloguing this lot.

This elegant portrait shows a young man in a knight’s armour flanked by a coat-of-arms and inscription. His confident pose, his collected yet lively expression and the gleaming light reflected by the steel of his armour exude a naturalism which characterise this work as a fine example of North-Italian sixteenth century portraiture.

The sitter, previously thought to be Carlo Gonzaga di Sabbioneta can now be identified as Ercole Pio di Savoia, (? – 1571) son of Marco Pio and Lucrezia Roverella who married Virginia Marino. This identification is supported by a recent publication by the Fondazione Zeri (2018, scheda no. 27850), which associates the coat-of-arms in the upper right corner with the combined ones of the Pio and Marino families. The inscription in the upper part of the painting, ‘HERCULI ILLIO DE SAB’, can be considered further evidence in support of this identification: the word ‘SAB’, could in fact be ‘Sabaudo’ – which refers to the Savoia Family.

The present work shows Ercole in armour and this is consistant with his status, as he became Signore of Sassuolo in 1554, following the death of his cousin Giberto II.

Along with the identification of the sitter, the attribution has also been revised and the artist of the present painting is now thought to have been working with the court of Sassuolo and probably active in Verona.