In this artwork, how is the Description discussed?
The first art historian to clarify that the subject was not a priest was Freedberg, in 1950, identifying him as Francesco Baiardi. Today he is considered an unknown collector, who holds the Offiziolo Durazzo, a miniated breviary today housed in the Biblioteca Civica Berio at Genoa. This work had been executed some twenty years before the painting by Francesco Marmitta, a painter from Parma who has been erroneously considered Parmigianino's master. The man is the same appearing in a portrait in London, attributed by some to Dosso Dossi.The subject, who is illuminated by a frontal source, wears a wide black coat lined in fur, and a hat of the same color. His left hands holds the Offiziolo, whose decorated cover is painted in the finest details; the right hands lies on the table, and has a golden ring with a precious stone at the little finger. Near it are a bronze statuette in ancient style, perhaps a female divinity (identified by some as Ceres), three bronze medals and an ancient silver coin: these objects were added as a show of the man's cultural interests. In the left background is a marble bas-relief of Mars, Cupid and Venus, a typical theme of the Platonic Academy, while on the right is a landscape.
Genoa breviary Parmigianino Biblioteca Civica Berio Platonic Academy Ceres London Dosso Dossi Parma