Portrait of a Gentleman

The unknown sitter in this arresting portrait wears a furlined robe and capuccio, a hood rolled up and worn as a hat—both conventional apparel for well-to-do Florentine merchants. Ridolfo Ghirlandaio’s pyramidal presentation of the sitter and use of active, searching light reveal his study of portraits by Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. The son of renowned Florentine painter Domenico Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo successfully continued the family workshop well into the 16th century.