(Salmezza circa 1570–1626 Bergamo)
Portrait of a young man,
oil on canvas, 186 x 107 cm, framed

We are grateful to Simone Facchinetti for suggesting the attribution.

The present painting is an addition to the corpus of works by Enea Salmeggia, whose portraits are rare. The present work can be compared to a drawing by Salmeggia in the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan, which is a preparatory study for another full-figure portrait in a similarly interior with a table (see: U. Ruggeri, Enea Salmeggia detto Talpino. Rassegna e studio dell’opera pittorica e grafica, Bergamo 1966, p. 69, n. 62).

Here a young gentleman stands in an interior, furnished only by a table covered by a red velvet carpet with a gold tasselled fringe. The table provides the subject with a support to lean on while he waits. The painter attempts to create a theatrical setting by drawing the curtains to each side. The youth wears a cuirass complete with brassards. This light armour is completed by gauntlets and the open helmet (bergognotta) decorated with plumes that are placed to one side on the ground. The absence of a crest on the breast-plate indicates that this armour was for jousting in the barrier, a competition carried out in tournaments of the time which was not intentionally violent, but meant to demonstrate the contestant’s abilities.

The youth’s features conform to a peculiar stylisation that can be compared to Salmeggia’s paintings dating from after 1600. His earliest known portrait is a Spinet Player of 1592 (Koelliker collection). Here the artist directly aligns himself with Sofonisba Anguissola’s treatment of the same subject (see: F. Frangi, in Dipinti Lombardi 2004, pp. 10-12). The Portrait of a Gentleman with a Book in the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo (see: U. Ruggeri, Enea Salmeggia, in I pittori bergamaschi dal XIII al XIX secolo, Il Cinquecento, IV, Bergamo 1978, p. 298, cat. 18) almost certainly belongs to a later phase, dating from after the turn of the century. A work that is nearly contemporary to the signed Portrait of a Gentleman, formerly in the Moroni collection at Bergamo (M.C. Rodeschini, in Il Seicento a Bergamo 1987, p.229, cat. 60), is probably the most notable work of this genre by Salmeggia.

The model in the present portrait, appears to be idealised, his features have been moulded to a compelling ideal of beauty. Salmeggia employs the same principles here as expounded in his theory, where he argued for a recovery of the ancient tradition of Raphael and Leonardo to Bernardino Luini. Because the present work is a notably un-naturalistic performance, this portrait can be compared to the artist’s contemporary public works. Striking similarities are especially apparent with works of the 1620s such as The Martyrdom of Saint Agatha in Sant’Agata nel Carmine, Bergamo (of 1620) and the Martyrdom of Saint Alexander in Sant’Alessandro in Colonna, Bergamo (of 1623).

Sources record various portraits by Andrea Salmeggia, which have so-far remained untraced. Two portraits, each of a gentleman, were with the Count Lupi at Bergamo while the Portrait of Francesco Rota, a Knight of Malta, was in Casa Rota at Bergamo (see: U. Ruggeri Enea Salmeggia, in I pittori bergamaschi dal XIII al XIX secolo, Il Cinquecento, IV, Bergamo 1978, p. 334, cats. 346, 348). However, this information is insufficient to allow the identification of the sitter in the present Portrait of a Young Gentleman.