Francesco Bonsignori

(doc. Verona 1477 – 1519 Caldiero)
PORTRAIT OF FEDERICO II GONZAGA AS A CHILD
 
1503 
Oil on panel, height: 24.8 cm, width: 20.1 cm, framed
On the reverse: customs seal of the territory of the Granduca della Toscana and burned collection inventory number with crown, possibly of the ducal collection of the Gonzaga

PROVENANCE

• Mantua Isabella d’Este, until 5 November 1503
• documented on 25 November 1503, Rome, Gian Francesco Gonzaga or Pope Julius II
• European private property

EXPERTISE
Prof. Dr. Gaudenz Freuler, March 2023

LITERATURE

• Gaudenz Freuler, ‘El pù bel ritracto facesse mai Magistro Francesco’, in: Pantheon, LIV, 1996, pp. 50–58
• Clifford M. Brown, ‘Francesco Bonsignori: Painter to the Gonzaga court – New documents’, in: Accademia Virgiliana Mantova, Atti e Memorie, n.s., XLVII, 1979, pp. 81–96

This painting of a bust of an elegantly dressed boy is one of the earliest known children’s portraits in Italian Renaissance painting. Prof. Dr. Gaudenz Freuler, retired Professor for Art History at the University of Zurich, successfully identified the sitter in a preparatory drawing on stylistic grounds and on the basis of historical documents as three-year-old Federico II Gonzaga, son of Isabella d’Este and Gian Francesco Gonzaga, heir to the throne of the marquis of Mantua.
 
This portrait of a child, unpublished to date, is the translation of aforesaid drawing into a painting, which is likewise excellently documented. As we learn from Isabella d’Este’s correspondence, she had two portraits painted of her three-year-old son, which she ordered to be sent to her husband, staying at the court of Pope Julius II in Rome at the time. One of the paintings was meant for the father, whereas the other was a gift for Pope Julius II.
 
Despite his gender age, the young offspring of the noble dynasty appears in a uniform in the northern style that was especially made for him. It consists of an undershirt, a doublet with wide, tied-on sleeves typical of the period around 1500, and a beret. The delicate face with its seemingly absent-minded expression is slightly turned to the left, its large, expressive eyes suggesting a somewhat melancholic mood.
 
The great importance of this child’s portrait of three-year-old Federico II Gonzaga lies not only in its artistic appeal as a work by Francesco Bonsignori, the Gonzaga court painter specialised in portraiture, but also and particularly in its historical and cultural significance as the earliest portrait of the future builder of the Palazzo del Te that has come down on us, who would later, as an adult, even be portrayed by Titian.
 
Because of its ample documentation through the correspondence between Isabella d’Este, one of the most celebrated and fascinating patronesses of the Renaissance, and her husband, Gian Francesco Gonzaga, this likeness is considered one of the best documented Renaissance portraits, whose artistic genesis can be traced without interruption and in all of its facets, thanks to archival records and the preparatory drawing.
 
In one of her letters, Isabella d’Este refers to Bonsignori’s drawn portrait of her little son as the most beautiful drawing by Bonsignori she has ever set eyes on: ‘… el più bel ritracto facesse mai Magistro Francesco (sc. Bonsignori) …’ Mention is also made of the ‘official’ costume including the beret, which may be unusual for a young child and which is reminiscent of the uniform of the Swiss Guard, so that Isabella d’Este felt prompted to speak of ‘our little Swiss’ (‘il svizaretto nostro’). From the correspondence dating from autumn 1503 we know that Bonsignori war to translate the charcoal drawing into two paintings within a very brief period of time, namely in two weeks, and that Isabella d’Este had both pictures sent to Rome as soon as they had been completed.
 
The only question that remains unanswered is whether the present painting is the variant intended for the sitter’s father, Gian Francesco Gonzaga, or whether it is identical with the portrait meant as a present for Pope Julius II.