Restored in 2003 with funding from Mara and Charles Robinson in honor of Prof. W. R. Rearick.

In nineteenth-century publications, this intriguing work identified as a Portrait of an Architect was attributed to Rocco Marconi (1490-1529), a pupil of Giovanni Bellini who later worked with Palma il Vecchio. Yet during restoration, the date of 1555 in the painting’s foreground was confirmed as original, refuting the attribution to Marconi, who died in 1529. The inscribed date does not necessarily correspond to that of the creation of the work, however, for it is possible that the painting is a seventeenth-century copy of a sixteenth-century original, as some scholars have suggested.

In any case, the style of this portrait seems to indicate an unidentified Venetian artist’s interest in portraits by the young Titian. The draftsman’s compass that the depicted gentleman holds in his right hand was thought to indicate his profession as an architect; the sword in his left hand could be another clue to the sitter’s identity, and the compass might refer to a navigator or to the measuring of distances in a military campaign.

This painting is currently in storage in the Correr Museum and was suggested for restoration by Save Venice Board member Prof. David Rosand.

The work was restored by conservator Maria Chiara Ceriotti of the ARKE restoration firm, with the guidance of project director Attilia Dorigato of the Correr Museum.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Unidentified Venetian painter
Portrait of an Architect
Sixteenth century (?), oil on canvas
84 x 67 cm

Museo Correr: Homepage

Attilia Dorigato, “Correr Museum Paintings Restored in Honor of Professor W. R. Rearick” (2004)