Caravaggios Portrait of a Gentleman with a Ruff, which is a recent arrival in the Klesch Collection, has a short critical history. It also has a very limited history as regards the associated bibliography and media coverage, perhaps because the painting came to the fore prior to the social media explosion characteristic of recent years and, above all, at a time when todays almost obsessive interest in Caravaggio was certainly not so developed. This interest has since expanded to incorporate all levels of communication, even the most widely popular. The Portrait first came to peoples attention in 1992 and despite the fact that the artist already exerted an appeal that few other painters could boast at the time, Caravaggios following was far removed from what it is today.
Text in English and Italian.
Caravaggios Portrait of a Gentleman with a Ruff
Regarding the identification of the man portrayed in Caravaggios Portrait of
a Gentleman with a Ruff
Notes on Caravaggios portraiture in Rome
Technical Appendix
Gianni Papi is a leading scholar on Caravaggio and his circles in Rome and Naples. He has curated numerous exhibitions, including La schola del Caravaggio. Dipinti dalla Collezione Koelliker (Ariccia, 2006), Caravaggio e caravaggeschi a Firenze (Florence, 2010), Andrea Commodi (Florence, 2012) and Gherardo delle Notti (Florence, 2015). He has published these monographs: Cecco del Caravaggio (1992 and 2001), Orazio Borgianni (1993), Andrea Commodi (1994), Antiveduto Gramatica (1995), Gerrit Honthorst in Italia (1999), Spadarino (2003), Ribera a Roma (2007) and Bartolomeo Manfredi (2013). His articles have appeared in the most important journals of the field, including over forty in Paragone as well as others in The Burlington Magazine, Bollettino darte, Arte cristiana, Storia dellarte, Studi di storia dellarte, Ars Magazine, Artibus et historiae and Artitalies.
