Beskrivning: Se beskrivning i den engelska versionen.

Catalogue 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]

Foto: Erik Cornelius / Nationalmuseum 2012

Porträtt av en ung man, möjligen G. Pesaro