Portrait of a Priest

After the restoration in 2003 the painting revealed an extraordinary pictorial quality, visible in the face, rendered with an uncommon intensity. Such high quality has led to the name of Fra’ Galgario, re-proposed as the author of this painting: a name previously put forward at the end of the nineteenth century.
The portrait can be placed in an early phase of the artist’s career, perhaps even during his apprenticeship. Sources recall that Ghislandi had trained in the workshop of the renowned Venetian portraitist Sebastiano Bombelli, and this portrait shows affinities with his work: for example, the monumental quality of the figure and the mix of just a few tones, the whites and blacks of the clothes and the pale complexion of the face framed by grey hair.
J.S.