Portrait of a Goldsmith in Three Positions

Portrait of a Goldsmith in Three Positions, c. 1530

oil on canvas
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

The box of rings in the foreground identifies the sitter as a goldsmith. Lotto's account book shows that he had several friends who were goldsmiths in Venice. One of them, Bartolomeo Carpan, was originally from Treviso, prompting speculation that the three faces (tre visi, in Italian) are a play on the name of his native city. They may also allude to the contemporary debate over the relative merits of painting and sculpture. Accordingly, Lotto might have painted this triple portrait to counter sculptors' cla