The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 21, 2024

Portrait of a Man, possibly Girolamo Rosati

Portrait of a Man, possibly Girolamo Rosati

1533–34
(Italian, 1480–1556)
Framed: 135.9 x 128 x 8.6 cm (53 1/2 x 50 3/8 x 3 3/8 in.); Unframed: 108.2 x 100.5 cm (42 5/8 x 39 9/16 in.)

Did You Know?

This fashionable man broadcasts his wealth by wearing a fur-lined velvet and satin outfit with expensive gold jewelry.

Description

The gesture of the elegantly dressed man is a mystery. Is he rising from his chair to address someone or is he pointing to something outside the frame? His right hand rests on a piece of paper (a letter?), while on the table are clover—a symbol of abundance, good fortune, and happy marriage—and jasmine, associated with purity and love, further emphasized by the roses on the trellis. There may have been a companion portrait of the sitter’s bride, to whom he acknowledges his devotion. Another recent interpretation identifies the sitter as Girolamo Rosati, a high official in Fermo, on Italy’s east coast. The paper may be a design for one of his important architectural projects, to which he may be pointing in the distance. The interrupted moment is a naturalistic touch characteristic of Lotto, quite distinct from the formality of the other Italian Renaissance portraits in the museum's collection. Though this portrait clearly articulates the man’s status, Lotto emphasizes his individuality and interiority as much as a socially constructed identity.
  • Imperial collection, Vienna;
    - 1923 Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna, Austria), sold to Moritz Lindemann, 1923;
    1923 Moritz Lindemann (Vienna, Austria),sold to Wilhelm von Ofenheim, 1923;
    1923 - 1930 Wilhelm von Ofenheim, 1860-1930 (Vienna, Austria), upon his death, held in trust by his heirs, 1930;
    1930 - 1939 Von Ofenheim family trust, sold to Rosenberg and Stiebel, 1939;
    [Rosenberg & Stiebel, New York], sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1950.
  • Thieme, Ulrich, Felix Becker, Fred. C. Willis, and Hans Vollmer. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Leipzig, Germany: W. Engelmann, 1907. Reproduced: vol. XXIII, 412
    Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works, with an Index of Places. Oxford, United Kingdom : The Clarendon Press, 1932. Reproduced: p. 312
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 367; Mentioned: p. 366-368
    Francis, Henry S. "Portrait of a Nobleman by Lorenzo Lotto." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art XXXVIII, (1951): 22-23. Reproduced: p. 38, 46
    Cleveland Museum of Art, “Recent Acquisition Press Release,” January 4, 1951, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Banti, Anna. Lorenzo Lotto di Anna Banti. Firenze, Italy: Sansoni, 1953. Mentioned: p. 39; Reproduced: p. 82, pl. 159
    Coletti, Luigi. Lotto. Bergamo, Italy: Istituto italiano d'arti grafiche, 1953. Reproduced: p. 45, pl. 117
    Pignatti, Teresio. Lorenzo Lotto; 147 tavole in nero, 4 tavole a colori. Milano, Italy: Mondadori, 1953. Reproduced: p. 120, pl. 93
    Berenson, Bernard. Lotto. Milano, Italy: Electa Editrice, 1955. Reproduced: p. 126, pl. 172
    Berenson, Bernard. Lorenzo Lotto. London, United Kingdom: Phaidon Press, 1956. Reproduced: p.94, pl. 172, 172a
    Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance; A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works with an Index of Places. Venetian School. New York, NY: Phaidon Publishers; distributed by Garden City Books, 1957. Reproduced: p. 101, vol. 1
    Francis, Henry S. "Portraits by Lorenzo Lotto." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art XLIV, (1957): 44. Reproduced: p. 44
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 413 archive.org
    Milliken, William Mathewson. The Cleveland Museum of Art. New York, NY: H.N. Abrams, 1958. Reproduced: p. 34
    Cappi Bentivegna, Ferruccia. Abbigliamento e costume nella pittura italiana; rinascimento. Roma, Italy: Bestetti, Edizioni d'arte, 1962. Reproduced: p. 236. fig. 333
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 97 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 97 archive.org
    Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972. Mentioned: p. 112, 521, 574
    L'opera completa del Lotto. Milano, Italy: Rizzoli, 1975. Reproduced: p. 107; Mentioned: p. 108
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 106 archive.org
    Caroli, Flavio. Lorenzo Lotto et la nascita della psicologia moderna. Milano, Italy: Gruppo Editoriale Fabbri, 1980. Mentioned: p. 264; Reproduced: p. 265
    "1993 Annual Report." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 6 (1994): 143-218. Mentioned: p. 170; Reproduced p. 148 www.jstor.org
    Brown, David Alan, Peter Humfrey, Mauro Lucco, and Augusto Gentili. Lorenzo Lotto: Rediscovered Master of the Renaissance. Washington DC: National Gallery of Art, 1997. Reproduced: p. 47, fig. 6
    Aikema, Bernard, Beverly Louise Brown, and Giovanna Nepi Scirè. Renaissance Venice and the North: Crosscurrents in the Time of Bellini, Dürer, and Titian. Milano, Italy: Bompiani, 1999. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 384-385
    Rossi, Francesco. Bergamo, l'altra Venezia: il Rinascimento negli anni di Lorenzo Lotto, 1510-1530. Milano, Italy: Skira, 2001. Reproduced: p. 57, fig. 13
    Dezuanni, Elsa, Eugenio Manzato, and Giovanni Carlo Federico Villa. Lorenzo Lotto: emozioni nascoste. Crocetta del Montello, Treviso, Italy: Antiga, 2011. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 224-225
    Frangi, Francesco and Maria Cristina Passoni. Attorno a Lotto: Naturalismo e Psicologia nel Ritratto Rinascimentale. Milano: Skira, 2017. Reproduced: p. 30, fig. 8
    Dal Pozzolo, Enrico Maria. Lorenzo Lotto:Il Richiamo delle Marche: Luoghi, Tempi e Persone. Milano: Skira, 2018. Mentioned: p. 75; Reproduced: p. 76, fig. 5
    Dal Pozzolo, E. M. "Two Paitnings of Samson by Lorenzo Lotto at Charlecote Park." The Burlington Magazine 160. no. 1385 (Aug. 2018): 640-645. Mention: p. 26
    Dossier de l'art. "Exposition a Londres: Lorenzo Lotto Portraitiste." Dossier de l'art 264, (Nov. 2018): 4-13. Reproduced: p. [4-5], 12
    du Bourg, Alexis Marle. "Lorenzo Lottoe Portaitiste." Dossier De L'Art, 364 (November 2018): 4-13. Reproduced: pp. 4-5, 12.
    Pozzolo, Enrico Maria Dal. Lorenzo Lotto: Portraits. Madrid: Museo Nacional del Prado, 2018. Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 29, p. 42, 284-286
    Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art: Picture Book No. 4 . [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1952. Reproduced: p. 54 archive.org
  • Lorenzo Lotto, Portraits. Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain (organizer) (June 18-September 30, 2018).
    Lorenzo Lotto. Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome, Italy (organizer) (February 25-June 12, 2011).
    Renaissance Venice and the North: Crosscurrents in the time of Bellini, Dürer, and Titian. Palazzo Grassi spa, 30124 Venice, Italy (organizer) (September 5, 1999-January 9, 2000).
    Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (1933-1939) (lent by Bruikleen von Ofenheim).
    Italiaansche Kunst in Nederlandsche bezit. Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (May 11-October 1, 1934).
    Style, Truth and the Portrait. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 1-November 19, 1963).
    Major Masters of the Renaissance, A Loan Exhibition of the Poses. The Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA (organizer) (May 3-June 9, 1963).
    Art and Humanism in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 23-February 25, 1962).
    The Renaissance Image of Man and the World. Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (organizer) (October 27-November 27, 1961).
    In Memoriam: Leonard C. Hanna, Jr.. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (March 4-April 7, 1958).
    The Venetian Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 8, 1956-January 1, 1957).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Man, possibly Girolamo Rosati|url=false|author=Lorenzo Lotto|year=1533–34|access-date=21 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1950.250