Young Man with Ruff and Gloves
Artist/Maker
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 122 x 91 cm
Inventory numberNM 149
AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum
Other titlesTitle (sv): Porträtt av en ung man, möjligen G. Pesaro Title (en): Young Man with Ruff and Gloves
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 113: FORMER INV. NOS.: 24 (B. 1830); KM 1052. TECHNICAL NOTES: The support consists of a single piece of coarse, twill-weave linen fabric. It has been glue-lined onto a sparsely woven linen fabric and mounted on a non-original stretcher. The ground is red. There are many retouches in the background. The varnish is yellowed. Documented restoration: 1927: Overpaintings and varnish removed. Repair. Varnish PROVENANCE: Byström 1852. BIBLIOGRAPHY: NM Cat. 1867, p. 11 (as Jacopo Tintoretto); Sander 1872–76, IV, p. 110, no. 1 (as Tintoretto); Göthe 1910, pp. 295–296; Thode 1901, p. 80; Sirén 1904–1905, p. 61; NM Cat. 1927, p. 33; Berenson 1932, p. 568; von der Bercken 1942, no. 308, p. 121; Berenson 1957, p. 178; NM Cat. 1958, p. 199 (as Domenico Tintoretto); Rossi 1969, p. 270; Bernari and Vecchi 1970, no. F 48, pp. 137–138; Rossi and Pallucchini 1990, no. A 85, pp. 75, 111; NM Cat. 1990, p. 354 (as Domenico Tintoretto, school of). The young man is portrayed three-quarter length in a classical setting, with red drapery and a column placed on a tall pedestal. The wide black robe is enlivened by the white lace cuffs around the wrists and the ruff that frames the young man’s beardless face, characterized by a slightly protruding chin and watchful eyes. In his left hand he holds a pair of yellow-brown gloves. Young Man with Ruff and Gloves belonged to the Byström Collection, where it was considered a work by Tintoretto, and since no forename is given one can assume that the reference was to Jacopo Robusti, called il Tintoretto, and not his son Domenico. The sitter is indicated to be a certain G. Pesaro.¹ Byström was a great admirer of the Venetian school and a large part of his collection consisted of works by Venetian artists. It is interesting to note that Byström owned two portraits presumed to be by Tintoretto. At number 24 in the catalogue of his collection we find: “G. Pesaro’s Portrait by Tintoretto”, and at number 22: “Portrait of F. Pesaro by Tintoretto”. This second portrait is smaller and was sold at a public auction in Stockholm in 1853 with the rest of Byström’s collection. The canvas was registered in the sale catalogue as a “Portrait of a Gentleman by Tintoretto”² and according to the sale records it was purchased by one of the Nationalmuseum’s curators, Per Wilhelm Grubb.³ Already at the beginning of the last century, Osvald Sirén attributed the present work to Domenico Tintoretto, and not to his more famous father: “[The painting] is ascribed to Jacopo Tintoretto, but the execution seems rather to indicate the hand of his son Domenico”.⁴ Later, both Bernard Berenson and Erich von der Bercken rejected this attribution and ascribed the painting to Jacopo Tintoretto, Berenson considering the canvas a late work of the artist and only partially autograph.⁵ Domenico Tintoretto’s name was once again associated with the Nationalmuseum painting when William Suida verbally informed the Museum that Young Man with Ruff and Gloves was an original by that painter.⁶ Presently the canvas is considered an early example of the portraiture of the same Venetian painter.⁷ Although Domenico Tintoretto collaborated closely with his father, he was able at a young age to create his own personal style in portraiture, characterized by great realism and vividness, with an emphasis on the sitter’s individual facial features. It was a style that originated from the examples of Flemish portraiture which Domenico studied in his father’s workshop, while also reflecting influences from the realistic portraits of Giovan Battista Moroni (1522–1578/79). Other typical features of Domenico Tintoretto’s art are the contrast between the dark clothing and its lighter details, minutely rendered, and the classical background with the column and drapery,⁸ all of which can be found in the Nationalmuseum canvas. It would be difficult to identify the young man in the portrait. According to the biographer Carlo Ridolfi, Domenico Tintoretto had achieved great fame for his portraits already in his youth: “So lively and natural that they look alive”.⁹ The writer stressed the large quantity of the artist’s portraits, noting that the list of all the dukes and kings, Venetian gentlemen and senators portrayed by Domenico would be too long to report. According to the Byström Collection catalogue the young man portrayed is G. Pesaro, and although this name is most probably a figment of the imagination, the Pesaro family was one of the most prominent in Venice at that time and used portraiture to immortalize its members, as is evident in the Madonna of the Pesaro Family commissioned from Titian in 1519.¹⁰ The Pesaros were privileged to have among their number a doge, with the election in 1658 of Giovanni Pesaro (1589–1659) as leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice.¹¹ There can be no question, though, of the sitter portrayed in the present painting being Giovanni Pesaro in his youth, since the portrait is an early work of Domenico Tintoretto, from the 1580s, and Giovanni Pesaro was born in 1589. se 1 RA, E I a: 280, Finansdep. Konseljakt, ärende nr. II, 1852-05-26, Katalog öfver framlidne Professor J. N. Byströms Tafvel-Samling, no. 24 “G. Pesaros porträtt af Tintoretto, 200 Rdr Banco”. 2 Byström 1853a, no. 162, p. 13. 3 SSA, Stockholms Auktionsverk, A I: a, Auktionsprotokoll 1853. 4 Sirén 1904–05, p. 61. 5 Berenson 1932, p. 568; Bercken 1942, no. 308, p. 121; Berenson 1957, p. 178. 6 William Suida verbally informed the Nationalmuseum at an unspecified date, probably after 1927. NM Archives, Nationalmusei Avdelningar, D 4 ecb: 3, “Svenska statens tafvelinventarium”. 7 Rossi 1969, p. 270; Rossi and Pallucchini 1990, no. A 85, pp. 75, 111. 8 Rossi 1968, pp. 60–71; Rossi and Pallucchini 1990, pp. 73–75. 9 Ridolfi 1648, pp. 265–267. 10 Wethey 1969, no. 55, pp. 101–103. 11 “Pesaro”, in Enciclopedia italiana di scienze, lettere e arti, XXVI, Rome, 1935, p. 922. [End]
Motif categoryPortrait
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category
Keyword
External links