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Moroni worked in and around Bergamo, northeast of Milan at the western edge of the Venetian terraferma. This double portrait from the start of his career testifies to the region’s prosperity in the 16th century. Traditionally thought to be an aristocrat and his son, the bearded man may in fact be a professional of the middle class and the boy his servant. Notice the sealed letter on the tablecloth, addressed “To the most Magnificent Signor Balthazar…” (Al molto Mag. O Sig.r Baldesar): if the man were a lawyer or secretary, rather than a nobleman, the letter may have been written by, rather than to him.
Portrait of a Man and a Boy (Count Alborghetti & Son)
Giovanni Battista Moroni (Italian (Bergamese), about 1520–1578)
about 1545–50
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
98.1 x 83.5 cm (38 5/8 x 32 7/8 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase with funds donated by Mrs. Turner Sargent (Amelia J. Holmes)—Turner Sargent Fund
Accession Number95.1371
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Moroni worked in and around Bergamo, northeast of Milan at the western edge of the Venetian terraferma. This double portrait from the start of his career testifies to the region’s prosperity in the 16th century. Traditionally thought to be an aristocrat and his son, the bearded man may in fact be a professional of the middle class and the boy his servant. Notice the sealed letter on the tablecloth, addressed “To the most Magnificent Signor Balthazar…” (Al molto Mag. O Sig.r Baldesar): if the man were a lawyer or secretary, rather than a nobleman, the letter may have been written by, rather than to him.
ProvenanceBy 1800, Teodoro Lechi (b. 1778 - d. 1866), Brescia; 1802, sold by Lechi to Richard Vickris Pryor (d. 1805), Blaire's Castle, near Bristol (painting probably remained in Italy) [see note 1]. Alborghetti collection, Bergamo; sold by Alborghetti family to Henry Doetsch (d. by 1895), London [see note 2]; June 22-25, 1895, posthumous Doetsch sale, Christie's, London, lot 63, to Colnaghi and Murray (joint account) [see note 3]; 1895, sold by Colnaghi to Bernard Berenson for the MFA for $3079. (Accession Date: December 1, 1895)
NOTES:
[1] This is the address given on the sale contract. No such castle now exists; perhaps Blaise Castle was intended. Pryor did not take the paintings back to England. He may have sold some in Rome in 1803; others remained in Milan with Francesco Ciceri, who managed the 1802 sale, and were dispersed after his death in 1834. See Nicholas Penny, The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, vol. 1, Paintings From Bergamo, Brescia and Cremona, National Gallery Catalogues series (London: National Gallery Company, 2004), pp. 197, 386-387.
[2] According to the catalogue of the Doetsch sale ("Catalogue of the Highly Important Collection of Pictures by Old Masters of Henry Doetsch, Esq.," Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, June 22-25, 1895, p. 18, lot 63).
[3] Sold as "Portraits of Count Alborghetti of Bergamo and his Son." Information about the buyers was provided by the Getty Provenance Index.
NOTES:
[1] This is the address given on the sale contract. No such castle now exists; perhaps Blaise Castle was intended. Pryor did not take the paintings back to England. He may have sold some in Rome in 1803; others remained in Milan with Francesco Ciceri, who managed the 1802 sale, and were dispersed after his death in 1834. See Nicholas Penny, The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, vol. 1, Paintings From Bergamo, Brescia and Cremona, National Gallery Catalogues series (London: National Gallery Company, 2004), pp. 197, 386-387.
[2] According to the catalogue of the Doetsch sale ("Catalogue of the Highly Important Collection of Pictures by Old Masters of Henry Doetsch, Esq.," Christie, Manson, and Woods, London, June 22-25, 1895, p. 18, lot 63).
[3] Sold as "Portraits of Count Alborghetti of Bergamo and his Son." Information about the buyers was provided by the Getty Provenance Index.