Portrait of a Young Benedectine Monk

The painting presents a melted and pasty material, a distinctly sentimental character of the figure, veiled by a subtle adolescent melancholy, and an abstract essentiality. The psychological refinement and softness of the modeling contrast greatly with the rough and simplified rendering of the hand and the habit, suggesting that Caroto limited himself to inserting the oval of the face on a background prepared by others. The black cowl worn by the young friar reveals that he belonged to the Benedictine congregation of Santa Giustina, founded in 1408 by Ludovico Barbo at the homonym monastery in Padua. Since 1442 it had settled in Verona in the monastery of Santi Nazaro and Celso, which remains the most probable ancient provenance of this painting.