The ''Portrait of Andrea Odoni'' is an oil-on-canvas painting by the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

High Renaissance In art history, the High Renaissance was a short period of the most exceptional artistic production in the Italian states, particularly Rome, capital of the Papal States, and in Florence, during the Italian Renaissance. Most art historians stat ...

painter

Lorenzo Lotto Lorenzo Lotto (c. 1480 – 1556/57) was an Italian Painting, painter, draughtsman, and illustrator, traditionally placed in the Venetian school (art), Venetian school, though much of his career was spent in other north Italian cities. He pain ...

dated 1527, now in the

Royal Collection The Royal Collection of the British royal family is the largest private art collection in the world. Spread among 13 occupied and historic royal residences in the United Kingdom, the collection is owned by King Charles III and overseen by the ...

of the United Kingdom. It hangs in the Picture Gallery in

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

, London. The style is typical of Lotto's Venetian period, with denser tones, a softer chromatic range and atmospheric effects at the boundaries. The painting is signed and dated by Lotto.

Sitter

Andrea Odoni (1488–1545) was a successful merchant in Venice, the son of an immigrant to the city from

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. He was therefore a member, though much wealthier than most, of the ordinary ''cittadini'' rather than the

patrician Patrician may refer to: * Patrician (ancient Rome), the original aristocratic families of ancient Rome, and a synonym for "aristocratic" in modern English usage * Patrician (post-Roman Europe), the governing elites of cities in parts of medieval ...

class who are the subject of most Venetian portraits. He inherited a collection of art and antiquities from his uncle, and considerably expanded it. His house, which

Pietro Aretino Pietro Aretino (, ; 19 or 20 April 1492 – 21 October 1556) was an Italian author, playwright, poet, satirist and blackmailer, who wielded influence on contemporary art and politics. He was one of the most influential writers of his time and a ...

implied was somewhat ostentatious, was described by

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...

as "a friendly haven for men of talent". There has been considerable debate about the meaning Lotto, presumably together with his sitter, intended to convey with the choice of objects. The portrait hung in Odoni's bedroom, alongside paintings by

Titian Tiziano Vecelli or Vecellio (; 27 August 1576), known in English as Titian ( ), was an Italians, Italian (Republic of Venice, Venetian) painter of the Renaissance, considered the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school (art), ...

and

Palma Vecchio Palma Vecchio (c. 1480 – 30 July 1528), born Jacopo Palma, also known as Jacopo Negretti, was a Venetian painter of the Italian High Renaissance. He is called Palma Vecchio in English and Palma il Vecchio in Italian ("Palma the Elder") to di ...

and a reclining nude by

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 ...

Description

The horizontal format, with which Lotto had already experimented for portraits of couples, was adopted here for a single subject, a merchant

Renaissance humanist Renaissance humanism was a revival in the study of classical antiquity, at first in Italy and then spreading across Western Europe in the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. During the period, the term ''humanist'' ( it, umanista) referred to teache ...

portrayed as though among his collection of marbles from Classical antiquity. Most of the pieces are identifiable and well-known, and are shown here either as other versions (some reduced in size) or as plaster casts. The head of the Emperor

Hadrian Hadrian (; la, Caesar Trâiānus Hadriānus ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. He was born in Italica (close to modern Santiponce in Spain), a Roman ''municipium'' founded by Italic settlers in Hispania B ...

in the right-hand foreground probably does represent a piece Odoni owned, a cast of piece now in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. Others may have belonged to Lotto's studio rather than to Odoni. The man wears a rich, dark, fur-lined jacket. He sits next to a table, on which there lies a book and some ancient coins. In his hand he holds a small statue of Diana of Ephesus. The other hand touching the heart is a gesture characteristic of Lotto's work.

Provenance

The painting and is mentioned in 1532 by

Marcantonio Michiel Marcantonio Michiel (1484–1552) was a Venetian noble from a family prominent in the service of the State who was interested in matters of art. His notes on the contemporary art collections of Venice, Padua, Milan and other northern Italian centr ...

, when it was owned by the sitter, Andrea Odoni. It was also seen by

, presumably on his visit to Venice in 1545, and after Odoni's death was in an inventory of the collection of his brother and heir, Alvise Odoni, in 1555. It later passed to Lucas van Uffelen, probably by 1623, then to

Gerrit Reynst Gerrit Reynst (1599 – 29 June 1658) (also known as Gerard Reynst) was, like his younger brother Jan (1601–1646), a Dutch merchant and art collector from Amsterdam, with his brother owner of the Reynst Collection. He was an alderman and me ...

, 1639, then to the

States of Holland and West Friesland The States of Holland and West Frisia ( nl, Staten van Holland en West-Friesland) were the representation of the two Estates (''standen'') to the court of the Count of Holland. After the United Provinces were formed — and there no longer was a c ...

for presentation to

Charles II of England Charles II (29 May 1630 – 6 February 1685) was King of Scotland from 1649 until 1651, and King of England, Scotland and Ireland from the 1660 Restoration of the monarchy until his death in 1685. Charles II was the eldest surviving child of ...

as part of the

Dutch Gift The Dutch Gift of 1660 was a collection of 24 mostly Italian Renaissance paintings, four by Dutch Masters, and twelve classical sculptures. The gift was presented to newly-restored King Charles II of England on 16 November by envoys of the St ...

of 1660.Whitaker and Clayton, 206 When the painting was in Amsterdam, in the Van Uffelen collection (Van Uffelen returned to live there in 1630) or in the Reynst Collection, it was engraved, in reverse like most engravings of that period, by

Cornelis Visscher Cornelis Visscher (1629 in Haarlem – 1658 in Haarlem), was a Dutch Golden Age engraver and the brother of Jan de Visscher and Lambert Visscher. Biography According to Houbraken he was an able etcher who made famous prints (in his lifetime), an ...

Notes

References

*Lucy Whitaker,

Martin Clayton Martin Clayton, LVO, FSA, (born 1967) is Head of Prints and Drawings for Royal Collection Trust at Windsor Castle. He is a specialist in the drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. Early life Martin Clayton was born in Harrogate, North Yorkshire on 30 D ...

, ''The Art of Italy in the Royal Collection; Renaissance and Baroque'', Royal Collection Publications, 2007, * The entry i
mostly repeated on the Royal Collection website

External links

*
The juvenile joke hidden in a 16th Century painting
by

Kelly Grovier Kelly Grovier is an American poet, historian, and art critic. Background Grovier was educated at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he received the school's Outstanding Senior of the Year Award upon graduation, and at Oxford Unive ...

, 14 November 2018,

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...