"Titian's Schoolmaster"
Giovanni Battista Moroni·c. 1575
Historical Context
Moroni's so-called "Titian's Schoolmaster," painted around 1575, acquired its fanciful title from an old tradition that the sitter was Titian's tutor. The actual identity of the elegantly dressed man remains unknown, but the painting exemplifies Moroni's remarkable ability to capture individual personality with almost photographic directness. As the leading portrait painter in Bergamo, Moroni documented the professional and mercantile classes of Lombard society with unprecedented naturalism.
Technical Analysis
Moroni's technique achieves its characteristic effect through a restrained palette and direct, unidealized rendering of the sitter's features. The black costume is painted with subtle variations in tone and texture, while the face and hands receive the sharpest focus and most careful modeling.
Provenance
Borghese collection, Rome by c. 1622 until after 1793; purchased 1800 by Robert Fagan [c. 1761-1816], Rome, who sent it to England; sold to William Buchanan [1777-1846], London;[1] Walsh Porter [d. 1809], London; purchased before Porter's death by George Granville Leveson-Gower, 2nd marquess of Stafford and 1st duke of Sutherland [1758-1833], Cleveland House, then Stafford House, London;[2] by inheritance to his son, George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd duke of Sutherland [1786-1861], Stafford House; by inheritance to his son, George Granville William Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 3rd duke of Sutherland [1828-1892], Stafford House; by inheritance to his son, Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 4th duke of Sutherland [1851-1913], StaffordHouse; (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris); sold February 1909 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[3] inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA. [1] William T. Whitley, _Art in England, 1800-1820_, New York and Cambridge, England, 1928: 11-12. [2] The 1809 "Catalogue and Description of the Pictures belonging to the Marquis of Stafford at Cleveland House" (Staffordshire County Record Office, D593/R/7/5) records the acquisition of the painting by Stafford from Porter, who died in May 1809. See: Peter Humfrey, "The Stafford Gallery at Cleveland House and the 2nd Marquess of Stafford as a Collector," _Journal of the History of Collections_ 28, no. 1 (March 2016): 49, 51 fig. 7, 54 n. 40. [3] In a Duveen Brothers ledger recording sales from 1901 to 1910, under Peter A.B. Widener's name for 12 February 1909, is this entry: "1 painting of a man by Moroni 'Titian's Schoolmaster' ex Sutherland Colection" (Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Series I.A. New York House, 1886-1960, reel 4, box 5, New York Sales 1901-1910, page 182, copy in NGA curatorial files).
