Portrait of Christopher Columbus

Cevasco, Giovanni Battista 1862 Liguria/ GE/ Genova - donazione

ambito italiano

Bigordi, Ridolfo detto (del) Ghirlandaio

3487

Unità di misura: cm; Altezza: 53,68; Larghezza: 47,63; Varie: Misure cornice in cm 68, 68

olio su tela

Esposizione universale - New York - 1939

The portrait of Christopher Columbus, painted by Ridolfo, son of Domenico Bigordi known as il Ghirlandaio (1483-1561), is the image that, over time, has established itself in the collective imagination as the face of the Navigator. The painting was found around the middle of the 19th century on the antiques market in Florence by the Genoese artist Giambattista Cevasco. There has been much controversy over the painting over the past decades. In particular, this portrait was considered to be very different from the two traditional Colombian iconographic strands, which are based on the one hand on the painting in the Collezione Gioviana (Musei Civici, Como) and on the other on Sebastiano dal Piombo (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). On this basis, the attribution to Ridolfo has also been contested, shifting its realisation to the second half of the 16th century, when the painter was no longer active. Detailed examination of the figure reveals, however, many similarities with the painting and portrait techniques of Ghirlandaio's son and as such lattribution was confirmed by B. Berenson in 1932, although the work, as can be seen from the authoritative The Dictionary of Art, 1996, bibliography edited by Andrea Muzzi, vol. XII, pp. 556/557, was not included in the painter's curriculum. It should be considered that, starting in the first quarter of the 16th century, certain common formal canons (the black cloth robe, the white shirt, the face turned to the left) became established in the portraiture of famous people. It is possible that Ridolfo - also basing himself on the literary description in Ferdinando Colombo's Historie (the bright complexion, the prematurely bleached hair) - thus derived a fantasy portrait, but one that was able to be appreciated for its formal qualities. The letters and position of the inscription have been compared to that of the portrait of Cristofano dell'Altissimo, kept in the Galleria Gioviana in Como, which is titled 'CRISTO:VS COLOMBO' in full. Rectangular oil-painted canvas