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This splendid portrait - at the Uffizi since 1704 - has been much discussed, as the painter and the figure have been mysterious for a long time: it once was thought to be Martin Luther painted by Holbein, then Andrea del Verrocchio by Lorenzo di Credi, or again a portrait of unknown man. Lastly, the identification of the man has been possible by comparison with the Pietro Perugino's self-portrait painted in the Collegio del Cambio at Perugia; and the attribution went to his most celebrated pupil, Raphael. However, recently the attribution was changed to Lorenzo di Credi.
The picture retains the expressive image of a famous artist of Renaissance art. Particularly noticeable is the influence of North European portrait-painting, in the realistic rendering of the face, in the characterization of the man, but above all in the insertion of the figure in the narrow confines of an interior, with a small window offering the partial view of a distant landscape.
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