Parmigianino, 'Portrait of a Collector', about 1523

When listed in the inventory of Ranuccio Farnese in 1587 this picture was titled Portrait of a Priest, but there is no evidence for this identification. The portrait was also once thought to represent Parmigianino’s friend and patron, Francesco Bairdo, but now it is regarded simply as the portrait of an unknown collector.

The man is seated at a table, wearing a large black fur-lined coat and black hat. Parmigianino has painted out the original top contour of the hat to make it smaller – the original shape can still be seen through the overpaint. The man appears to be sitting in front of an open window through which a dark cloudy sky and brightly lit copse of trees can be seen. The main light source is from the front, but there is also light coming from the horizon casting an almost supernaturally bright golden glow on the relief sculpture and the leaves of the trees.

The sitter has an unusual expression, almost a sneer – his nostrils are flared, his lips pursed and forehead lined. His eyes do not fix on us but appear to be watching something slightly to our left. He is shown holding the so-called Durazzo Book of Hours by Francesco Marmitta, created about 20 years earlier (now in the Biblioteca Civica Berio, Genoa). Parmigianino has accurately represented the book’s elaborately tooled metal cover, with red stones on the metal clasps. A broken fragment of a pseudo-antique relief of Venus and Cupid with Mars stands in the background. The ‘antique’ figures are constructed in Parmigianino’s own sinuous style.

The sitter’s right hand lies on the inlaid wooden table, on which rests a bronze statuette of a woman. She holds a baton or possibly a dagger which she points towards her abdomen. She may represent the Roman heroine Lucretia who stabbed herself to defend her honour. The bronze statuette was painted on top of the inlay on the table and the marquetry stripe now shows through the paint, which has become transparent with age. Beside the statuette lie four ancient coins. There was considerable interest in ancient coins among collectors in Parma at this time. Three of the coins are bronze sestercii, but the third is made of silver. It is the depiction of a real coin – a denarius struck in Rome in 56 BC bearing the head of Ancus Marcius, the fourth king of Rome (reigned 642–617 BC).

The antique objects surrounding the man reveal his cultured tastes, while the Breviary in his hand attests to his Christian faith. A similar message is expressed in Lorenzo Lotto’s somewhat later Portrait of Andrea Odoni (Royal Collection Trust) in which the sitter is surrounded by antique artefacts but holds a Crucifix pendant to his heart as testament of his devotion to Christ.

In Parmigianino’s painting, the background above the sitter’s head has been loosely brushed in – the pale colour of the ground is visible through the long sweeping strokes. In the sky, Parmigianino has used lots of tiny unblended brushstrokes to suggest the tumultuous clouds. The leaves of the trees were also created by small strokes of green paint, the paler tones laid on top of the darker ones. These varied expressive brushstrokes enhance the dramatic impact of the image.