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M ERCHANTS !& M ONARCHS
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Ferdinando Gonzaga, later Duke of Mantua (1587 – 1626) Oil on canvas: 25 1⁄4 × 19 in. (64 48 cm.) Inscribed on the breastplate: ‘NVLLA SALVS’; and with a collector’s seal to the reverse of the canvas, with monogrammed initials ‘HE’ Painted circa 1602 – 1603
1. F. Huemer, Portraits Painted in Foreign Countries (Corpus Rubenianum Ludwig Burchard, Vol. XIX.1), 1977, p.30. 2. It is also worth noting how a strategically placed lock of hair falls over the upper part of the boy’s ear, an omnipresent feature of portraits of his father Vincenzo, which arose from the Duke’s own eccentric preference in dressing his ears (see Bodart, San Martino al Cimino, 1999, p.172). 3.“181. Un’altra simile armaturina fornita come sopra dell’Eccme. Sig. Don Ferdinde.” See: J. Mann, “The Lost Armoury of the Gonzagas”, The Archaeological Journal, 95 (1938) 2, p.332-333.
PROVENANCE Presumably commissioned by the sitter’s father, Vincenzo I Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua (1562 – 1612); In the collection of Le Brun, Milan; A. Genolini, Milan, 20 – 24 November 1899, lot 62, (as ‘Allori Angelo detto il Bronzino’ with unidentified sitter); Farsietti, Prato, 9 November 2013, lot 201; with The Weiss Gallery, London, 2013; Private collection, Belgium.
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his previously unpublished portrait depicts Ferdinando Gonzaga, the Duke of Mantua’s second son. Aged about fifteen, the young boy still with a ‘baby-faced appearance’1 typical of the family and he faces the spectator with the air of a young and confident ruler.2 The play of light and shadow fully emphasizes his face contrasting against the dark background. Even though it remains mostly hidden in the darkness, Pourbus applied his delicate skills to render the costly armour with its inlaid gilded motif. In the Gonzaga’s armoury inventory of 1604, amidst the different amounts of halberds, gauntlets and pistols, mention is made of ‘a boy’s armour… which belonged to his excellency Don Ferdinando.’3 Whilst it is difficult to directly link this actual armour to that reference, its inclusion in this portrait mimics the martial depiction of his father, and perhaps reflects Vincenzo’s aspirations for his son to be a manly Renaissance prince.The portrait may well have been painted as a companion to that of his infant sister, Eleonora Gonzaga (1598 – 1655), c.1602, now in the Pitti Palace, Florence, (fig. 1). Both portraits are of nearly identical dimensions, similar composition and style of rendering, and possess a certain baroque appeal in truthfulness, sensuousness and colouring. One reads from time to time how Pourbus was not really influenced by his Italian surroundings and vice versa. Nothing is farther from the truth. Although the present picture clearly testifies to the skills of the Flemish artist, it is worth noting that in the past it was wrongly attributed to Angelo Bronzino (when sold during the auction of the collection of Le Brun in 1899). Likewise, Pourbus’s portrait of Ferdinando as a cardinal has in the past been erroneously attributed to Domenico Zampieri, il Domenichino. While our portrait displays the trappings of officialdom in its pose and formal costume, it is nevertheless profoundly naturalistic.
fig. 1 Frans Pourbus the Younger, Eleonora Gonzaga (1598 – 1655), c.1602, oil on canvas, 25 × 20 in. (63.5 × 50.8 cm.), © Pitti Palace, Florence
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