Portrait of a Gentleman

Ridolfo Ghirlandaio transformed the large workshop he inherited from his famous, fresco-painter father, Domenico, into one that specialized in portraits and festival decorations. One of Ridolfo’s most celebrated pictures, this work reveals his careful study of the portraits of Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael in its calm, pyramidal, and expansive presentation of the sitter and in its active, searching light. The foreground parapet, or ledge, over which a hand projects illusionistically into the viewer’s space and the glimpse of landscape through the window are devices Ridolfo borrowed from Flemish painting. The headpiece (cappuccio) and fur-cuffed robe of the unidentified sitter were customary apparel for well-to-do Florentine merchants.