Portrait of a Poet

Palma Vecchio completed this portrait around 1516, showing a young man holding a book with laurel leaves behind him. The laurel suggests a poet, since poets were traditionally crowned with laurel wreaths, giving rise to the term "poet laureate." A rosary in the composition indicates spiritual as well as artistic interests.

Some scholars have proposed the sitter might be Lodovico Ariosto, whose epic Orlando Furioso was published in 1516 to instant fame. However, Ariosto would have been 41 or 42 that year, which seems too old for this youthful figure. There's no evidence the Ferrarese writer ever sat for Palma Vecchio, who worked in Venice. The Venetian style shows in the warm tones and soft modeling, influenced by Giorgione and the young Titian.

The oil on canvas measures 84 x 64 cm and hangs at the National Gallery in London. The painting was transferred from wood in 1857 and has suffered some damage, with rubbing to the surface and areas of repaint. Despite condition issues, it remains one of Palma Vecchio's earliest successful portraits.