Portrait of Francesco Maria Bruntino

portrait

Francesco Maria Bruntino was a self-taught savant and antiquarian. He died in 1756, having spent his entire life and all his money collecting paintings, prints and fine books. Portrayed in a waist-length pose, with intense, shrewd expression, the man has ruffled hair and an unkempt beard, and wears an open shirt that indicates both his humble origins and his nonconformist disposition.

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About the Artist

Giuseppe Ghislandi

1655 – 1743

Giuseppe Ghislandi, called Fra Vittore Galgario, was an Italian portrait painter, active mainly in Bergamo, who was trained in Venice and whose portraits reflect the best qualities of Late Baroque Venetian painting in their solid handling and strong but subdued colour. His sitters are usually simple people and he represents them in informal poses, often with a strength of light and shade indicating a knowledge of Rembrandt. He has lately been connected with Realist tendency in Lombard painting of the early 18th century, but the closest parallels among his contemporaries seem to be Hogarth 's portraits, although his best-known work, the Boy Painter (Bergamo), in some ways anticipates Greuze.

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