Gian Federico Madruzzo

c. 1560

Giovanni Battista Moroni

Artist, Italian, c. 1525 - 1578

A light-skinned man with dark hair and a russet-orange beard stands wearing a long, voluminous, fur-lined coat next to a small dog near the corner of a room in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our right but he turns his head to look at us with light brown eyes under faint, ginger brows. He has a straight nose, his cheeks are lightly flushed, and his light peach lips are closed. His ginger beard and mustache are closely trimmed. His wavy, brown hair reaches his ears, and short bangs skim across the top of his forehead. His knee-length, taupe-brown tunic is tied at the waist and has a high neck that encircles layers of black and white collars underneath. The floor-length, flint-gray coat, worn over the tunic, has puffed sleeves that gather at the elbows, and is lined with a broad band of black fur around the neck and down the front. With his right hand, to our left, he grips the fur lining with his index finger extended. His other hand is held in front of his waist with the palm facing up and fingers loosely curled. He wears black pants or stockings over black shoes. The small, long-haired dog sitting to our right near the man’s feet has caramel-brown spots along its back, around its eyes, and over its furry ears. It looks at us with dark eyes, and its mouth curves up. It comes about halfway up the man’s shin and wears a red collar with silver bells. The floor is patterned with fern-green squares in a white grid. The wall behind the man is pale blue. Marble molding along the top is white veined with gray, and a red curtain is bunched up in the upper right corner of the painting, presumably tied against the wall there.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 22

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Timken Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 201.9 x 116.8 cm (79 1/2 x 46 in.)
    framed: 237.5 x 153 x 8.4 cm (93 1/2 x 60 1/4 x 3 5/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1960.6.27

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Commissioned by the Madruzzo family, Prince Bishops of Trent, Castello del Buon Consiglio, Trent, Italy, until 1658; by inheritance to Baroni di Roccabruna, Trent;[1] by inheritance 1735 to Baroni Gaudenti della Torre, Trent; by inheritance by 1833 to Baroni Salvadori, Casa Salvadori, Trent; by inheritance to Baroni Isidro and Valentino, Salvadori, Casa Salvadori, Trent;[2] sold 1907 through (Trotti et Cie., Paris) and (M. Knoedler & Co., Paris) to James Stillman [d. 1918], New York; by inheritance to Charles Chauncey Stillman, New York;[3] (Stillman sale, American Art Association, New York, 3 February 1927, no. 28); purchased by (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); by whom sold to William R. Timken [1866-1949], New York; by inheritance to his widow, Lillian Guyer Timken [1881-1959], New York; bequest 1960 to NGA.
[1] According to the Madruzzi family inventory, inventarium mobilium castri boni consili, p. 19. [2] According to G. B. Emert,Fonti manoscritti inedite per la storia dell'arte nel Trentino, 1939, p. 138. This year is when the Roccobruna family became extinct and the painting passed to the Baroni Guadenti. [3] According to Lionello Venturi, Italian Paintings in America, New York, 1933, vol. III, p. 538.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1921

  • Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, long term loan, 1921-1926

1939

  • Masterworks of Five Centuries, Golden Gate International Exposition, San Francisco, 1939, no. 41, repro.

1940

  • Masterpieces of Art. European & American Paintings 1500-1900, New York World's Fair, 1940, no. 10, repro.

Bibliography

1962

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 38, color repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 308, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 95.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 84, repro.

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools. 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:288.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 250, repro.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:340-341; 2:pl. 248.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 223, no. 278, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 289, repro.

2000

  • Kirsh, Andrea, and Rustin S. Levenson. Seeing Through Paintings: Physical Examination in Art Historical Studies. Materials and Meaning in the Fine Arts 1. New Haven, 2000: 262.

2004

  • Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 93, no. 68, color repro.

2023

  • Eclercy, Bastian. "Moronis Rahmen: Illusion und Inversion im Frankfurter Bildnis." In Kunstgeschichte mit Objekten aus dem Städel Museum und der Liebieghaus Skulpturensammlung. Festschrift für Jochen Sander zum 65. Geburtstag. Berlin, 2023: 172-172, color fig. 2.

Wikidata ID

Q20176641

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