Léon Richeton, Count Fortunato Martinengo, 1875, Etching

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A young nobleman leans with languid elegance against a table, his head resting on his raised right hand. He wears … Read more A young nobleman leans with languid elegance against a table, his head resting on his raised right hand. He wears a black cap with a jeweled band and a large curling ostrich plume, a doublet of richly patterned fabric fastened with a long row of small buttons, and over it a voluminous fur-lined gown whose spotted fur lining spills down the front of the figure in broad pale bands. His left hand hangs at his side. On the table beside him lie a cushion and a few small objects, and behind him a dark patterned tapestry or hanging fills the background. His expression is pensive and a little melancholy, the eyes looking out past the viewer. The print reproduces Moretto da Brescia's famous portrait in the National Gallery, London, long known as "Portrait of a Young Man" and now cataloged as the portrait of Count Fortunato Martinengo (1512 to 1552), a nobleman and humanist of Brescia, painted around 1540 to 1545. The plate is signed and dated below the image, "L. Richeton. Aquafort. 1875," showing that Léon Richeton etched it in 1875. Richeton was a French reproductive etcher who worked on many plates after old master paintings in the London and Paris collections. This is an etching in which the textures of the painting are rendered with real verve: long, feathery strokes in the plume and the fur, tight patterning in the doublet, and dark, layered hatching in the background that gives the figure its depth. The plate mark is visible, with good margins. It suits a dressing room, a gentleman's study or a collection of Renaissance portraits, and looks handsome in a dark frame with a touch of gilt. Condition: Age toning, darker at the edges; handling soiling along the edges and scattered foxing in the margins. Printed image clean. This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed. Any framed or interior images are shown for presentation and inspiration only, unless the listing explicitly states that the item is sold framed. See less