
Public Domain
Italian artist Lorenzo Lotto painted this portrait in 1505 during his stay in Treviso, where Bernardo de' Rossi served as bishop from 1505 until 1510. The painting originally had a cover, now identified as the Allegory of Virtues and Vices at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Lotto signed and dated the work on this protective cover.
The bishop is shown from three-quarters, his face looking directly at the viewer. Lotto portrays him with striking realism: reddish complexion, hollows under the eyes, expressive blue eyes, and light skin imperfections. This attention to detail was inspired by Antonello da Messina and possibly by Northern European artists like Albrecht Dürer.
The roll the bishop holds may allude to a sentence against conspirators who had attempted on de' Rossi's life two years earlier. When the bishop fled to Parma in 1524, he brought the portrait with him. It eventually joined the Farnese collection, which transferred to Naples in 1760. It now hangs at the National Museum of Capodimonte in Naples.
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