''Portrait of a Young Flautist'' or ''The Flute Player'' is an oil on canvas painting by

Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo, also called Girolamo da Brescia (c. 1480–1485 – after 1548), was an Italian High Renaissance painter active mostly in Venice, although he also worked in other cities in northern Italy. He is noted for his subtle use ...

, created ''c.'' 1540, now in the

Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo The Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo is a public art museum in Brescia, Lombardy. Established in 1851, the museum exhibits mainly paintings by local artists dated from the Thirteenth through the Eighteenth century. The museum's current collection in ...

in Brescia. The work was first recorded in the 19th century, at which time it was in Lord Anherest's collection in Sevenoaks. It was first exhibited in London in 1894. It was acquired by Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, after being excluded from the bequest to the Uffizi, and sold by his heirs to Peter Sharp, a New York collector. It was later bought by

Banca Popolare di Brescia Banca Popolare di Brescia S.c.r.l. (Bipop) was an Italian cooperative bank based in Brescia, Lombardy. In 1999 the bank merged with Cassa di Risparmio di Reggio Emilia. According to Mediobanca, the bank was ranked 30th in terms of client deposits ...

and placed it its present home.

Description

In a closed room a young man moves three-quarters towards the viewer, holding a flute with his hands, in front of a music book and with a sheet of music attached to the wall. At the right, a wall cabinet appears, where some books can be glimpsed. The boy is conspicuously dressed, denouncing his high social background, but a sense of melancholy is also evident, derived from a personal interpretation of Giorgione. In fact, Savoldo replaces the pastoral setting by a closed interior, in which the light is the master, measuring the solitude of the domestic interior and revealing the details of the objects, not much differently from how Vermeer will do in the following century. The shod hat casts a shadow over the boy's eyes, which appear so veiled and seem to reveal a restrained unhappiness. The heavy fur of the cloak also appears almost like a yoke, which causes the figure to curve slightly. His hands, on the other hand, are illuminated in an incident way, revealing an extraordinary piece of realism.Portrait of a Young Flautist, Lombardia Beni Culturali (Italian)
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Portrait of a Young Flautist 1540 paintings Paintings by Girolamo Savoldo Paintings in the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo Young Flautist Young Flautist