The ''Portrait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta'' is a painting attributed to the Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (800 BC to AD ...

master

Piero della Francesca Piero della Francesca (, also , ; – 12 October 1492), originally named Piero di Benedetto, was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance. To contemporaries he was also known as a mathematician and geometer. Nowadays Piero della Francesca i ...

(c. 1451). It portrays the condottiero and lord of

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

and

Fano Fano is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the '' Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by po ...

Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (19 June 1417 – 7 October 1468) was an Italian condottiero and nobleman, a member of the House of Malatesta and lord of Rimini and Fano from 1432. He was widely considered by his contemporaries as one of the mo ...

, and is housed in the

Musée du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

of Paris. The portrait depicts the condottiero by profile and, according to some sources, was based on a medal executed in 1445 by Pisanello, or to one by Matteo de' Pasti from 1450. The picture itself is believed to be executed by Piero della Francesca during his sojourn in Rimini, during which he also painted the fresco with Sigismondo Pandolfo kneeling after St. Sigismund in the

Tempio Malatestiano The Tempio Malatestiano ( it, Malatesta Temple) is the unfinished cathedral church of Rimini, Italy. Officially named for St. Francis, it takes the popular name from Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, who commissioned its reconstruction by the fa ...

(Cathedral) of the city. Despite the choice of the profile representation, typical of the portraits of eminent figures of the type, Piero della Francesca showed his attention for naturalist details in the fine execution of the texture and the hair of the committent. This is a proof of his good knowledge of Flemish masters such as

Rogier van der Weyden Rogier van der Weyden () or Roger de la Pasture (1399 or 140018 June 1464) was an early Netherlandish painter whose surviving works consist mainly of religious triptychs, altarpieces, and commissioned single and diptych portraits. He was highly ...

. Attribution is not certain and very late. Until 1889, it used to belong to the Russian Imperial Art Collection. Only as art piece of the d'Ancona collection in Milan in late 19th century, it was first attributed to Piero della Francesca by art-dealer Giovanni Morelli. From there it moved to Contini-Bonacossi collection, where Roberto Longhi reiterated the attribution before the family sold it to the Louvre. However, doubts were raised by Italian art critics and professors, some of whom believed it to be a neoclassical fake due to its uncanny resemblance with the painting of Tempio Malatestiano. Similarly, an Italian ministerial art commission refused to buy it in 1969 as part of the Contini-Bonacossi bequest due to the doubts surrounding its attribution. French art historians have, instead, always been unanimous on its attribution, especially after entering the Louvre collection.

External links

Page at Musée du Louvre website
{{Authority control 1450s paintings Paintings by Piero della Francesca

Malatesta Malatesta may refer to: People Given name * Malatesta (I) da Verucchio (1212–1312), founder of the powerful Italian Malatesta family and a famous condottiero * Malatesta IV Baglioni (1491–1531), Italian condottiero and lord of Perugia, Bettona, ...

Paintings in the Louvre by Italian artists

Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta