(Bergamo 1655–1743)
Portrait of a young painter, half-length, holding a brush,
oil on canvas, 78 x 61.5 cm, framed

Provenance:
Villa Orlando, Bellagio;
sale, Tajan, Paris, 26 June 1992, lot 57 (as Fra’ Galgario);
sale, Finarte, Milan, 21 November 1996, lot 54 (as Vittore Ghislandi, detto Fra Galgario);
art market, Italy;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Simone Facchinetti for confirming the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a photograph.

The present painting shows the portrait of a young painter, with a brush in his left hand. The youth’s gaze focusses on the viewer and the artist depicts the sitter in front of a plain background, which makes his reddish garment stand out. This is further highlighted by the blue of the sash tied around his waist. The wide and open brushstrokes that characterise the rendering of the garments contrast with the more studied modelling of the sitter’s features.

This depiction of a youthful painter can be compared to another portrait of a young painting by Fra Galgario in the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo (inv. no. 58AC00113). Here the sitter holds a similar brush in one hand and also rests his other hand on his hip, with a red coat with a blue sash, the large, shining eyes focus on the viewer and the corners of his mouth with the full lips point characteristically upwards.

Originally from Bergamo, Fra Galgario studied with Sebastiano Bombelli in Venice. He counts among the most important Italian portraitists of late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries in Italy. Fra Galgario painted not only celebrated personalities of his time, but also sitters who are unknown, such as in the present painting. The combination of subtle and brilliant colours and the bold brushwork that can be observed here are typical of the artist’s work.