Portrait of Bindo Altoviti
The Portrait of Bindo Altoviti is a painting finished around 1515 by the Italian High Renaissance painter Raphael. It is housed in the National Gallery of Art of Washington, D.C., United States.
| Portrait of Bindo Altoviti | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Raphael |
| Year | c. 1512–1515 |
| Type | oil on wood |
| Dimensions | 60 cm × 44 cm (24 in × 17 in) |
| Location | National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. |
Bindo Altoviti was a rich banker born in Rome in 1491 of Florentine origin. He was a cultured man who liked the arts.
The graceful, almost effeminate position of the subject along with the heavy contrast between light and shadow are atypical of Raphael's work, particularly of his portraits of men, demonstrating the artist's experimentation with different styles and forms in his later Roman period. The influence of the works of Leonardo, which Raphael studied astutely during this period of his career, is strikingly evident in this particular piece.
The painting was a property of Altoviti's descendants until 1808, when it was sold to Ludwig I of Bavaria. It remained at the Alte Pinakothek until 1936, when, after many debates about its attribution, the painting was lured out of Nazi Germany by "canny English dealers".[1] Acquired by Samuel Henry Kress, the portrait subsequently became property of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C..
A bronze bust of Altoviti by Benvenuto Cellini is exhibited in Boston at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.[2]
References
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2007-06-13.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum". gardnermuseum.org. Archived from the original on 2015-01-21. Retrieved 2015-03-05.
Further reading
Media related to Portrait of Bindo Altoviti at Wikimedia Commons- David Brown and Jane Van Nimmen. Raphael and the Beautiful Banker: The Story of the Bindo Altoviti Portrait. Yale University Press, 2005.
