SAVOLDO, Giovanni Girolamo
(b. 1480, Brescia, d. 1548, Venezia)

Portrait of a Man in Armour (known as Gaston de Foix}

c. 1529
Oil on canvas, 91 x 123 cm
Musée du Louvre, Paris

This painting is probably not of the noble French commander Gaston de Foix, killed in the Battle of Ravenna on April 11, 1512, but of the painter Savoldo himself. A strange work of art, the painting reflects the remarkable ability of its creator and is also designed to suggest the general superiority of painting over sculpture: thanks to two mirrors in the background, and the various parts of the armour, the viewer has a view of the knight in the round, and also a complete view of the room and its furniture from every angle.




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