Anonymous Italian painter to whom a homogenous group of works are given. His name was conceived by Roberto Longhi in 1955. As the name suggests, the artist’s many idiosyncrasies find echoes in the work of the Ferrarese Dosso Dossi, but his style also incorporates elements found both in Friuli, in the north-east of Italy, and in the Veneto, but also betrays an awareness of Tuscan painting.
This painting depicts a gentleman with a sword, three-quarter length, a landscape with a walled city beyond. Strong contrasts between light and dark define the painting: the beams of light from the leaden sky pick out certain parts of the landscape while other passages remain in penumbra. Nothing is known about the identity of the sitter; on the basis of the style of the costume, the portrait can be dated to 1515-20. The town in the background could possibly be Cividale, in Friuli.
The portrait has borne many different attributions over the years, from Titian to Dosso to Lorenzo Lotto, while Federico Zeri classified it as a work by Girolamo Marchesi da Cotignola. The attribution to the Amico Friulano del Dosso is, however, by far the most convincing.
