Portrait of a man 1545

Lorenzo Lotto painted this oil on canvas portrait of an unknown man in Northern Italy sometime in the first half of the sixteenth century. Lotto was working in Venice and the surrounding mainland, at a time when the city’s artistic institutions were beginning to solidify. The man in the portrait, with his expensive black clothing, could be a merchant, a doctor, or a lawyer. His direct gaze is confident, and his pointed finger leads the viewer out of the frame, beyond the boundaries of the artwork. It is possible that he is gesturing towards an absent partner or client. This assertive pose is not typical for this period and suggests a certain degree of self-awareness. Lotto's painting is a product of its time, but its humanism also anticipates a more modern sensibility. Looking at Lotto’s paintings in the context of the social and economic history of the Veneto can help us to understand the artist’s relationship to his patrons and the social function of art in this period.