This unidentified sitter is wearing chain-mail sleeves and a tunic of a type worn under a breast plate. This is an example of the intimate portraits of small format which Moroni made of male sitters.
Artist Biography: Moroni is one of the most famous North Italian portrait specialists of the 16th century. He was a native of Albino, near Bergamo. In his early years he worked in Brescia and at Trent (1551-2). Later altarpieces and portraits were painted for clients in and around Bergamo and Albino, where he settled in 1561.
His portraits have great psychological penetration, which owes less to his master and more to the Venetian tradition of portraiture as it had been evolved by Giorgione and Titian.
Acquisition Credit: Layard Bequest, 1916
Get the app
Explore museums and play with Art Transfer, Pocket Galleries, Art Selfie, and more