Portrait of a Man

In the last centuries this painting was attributed to different painters based on the initials to be found in the lower part of the picture. Since these initials were resolved as A. F(errariensis) P(ixit), the painting was mentioned for a long time as the work of A.F. Master from Ferrara. Later it was attributed to Baldassare Estense, the natural son of Niccolò III d’Este. Finally, the attribution to the Bolognese painter Antonio Leonelli da Crevalcore (Crevalcore is north of Bologna) seems to be final.

The painting shows a carefully coifed, tight-lipped sitter in sharp profile behind an elaborate window casement of luxurious marbles. Matrimonial objects, a pearl and a gold ring set with a ruby are displayed on a breviary that projects into the viewer’s space.

The identity of the young man on the picture is not established. Constanzo Sforza, Antonio Ordelaffi or somebody from the Fugger family are usually mentioned as possible identification.

This portrait is the artist’s earliest surviving work and the one that most reveals his indebtedness to the example of Francesco del Cossa.