In yesterday's post we looked at inspirations coming from art, so let's continue the thread with a painting by Andrea del Sarto, the "Portrait of a man wearing a large hat".
The artist's delicate sfumato technique was inspired by Leonardo and his portraits shared with his religious compositions a coloristic sensibility. In the case of this work, probably painted in the 1520s, Andrea del Sarto put emphasis on the sitter's attire: he wears a broad-brimmed hat, and we can see a voluminously sculpted upper sleeve under his mantle (the sort of clothes you may see in Pontormo or Rosso Fiorentino's paintings in which it is not rare to stumble upon a ballooning sleeve...).
These trends disappeared in the following years and Florentine gentlemen started favouring smaller berets and tighter, often slashed, sleeves.
While the identity of Andrea del Sarto's sitter is unknown, his elegant attire points at his wealth and elevated social standing, besides, being dressed in the traditional colors - red and blue - of the Medici coat-of-arms, he was probably part of the family. Some historians and art critics believe indeed the sitter may be Ottaviano de' Medici (1484-1546), a member of the cadet branch of the Medici family, a hypothesis that may be confirmed by the casket of wax seals on the table (probably symbols of authority and high station, both of which Ottaviano de' Medici enjoyed).
Part of an auction that will open at the end of January 2022 at Sotheby's, the painting is estimated between 2,000,000 - 3,000,000 USD. Looks like grand sartorial flourishes are definitely in.
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