Portrait of a Young Man

Louis XIV bought this small panel in 1665 from the Duc de Richelieu, the great-nephew of the cardinal, and when the royal inventory was drawn up in 1683 it was listed only as in the manner of Raphael. The doubt over its author has never gone away. The Louvre now files it under Parmigianino with a question mark, and names Correggio as the other candidate, with a question mark as well.

The museum dates it to about 1517 to 1520. If it is by Parmigianino, he was between 14 and 17 when he painted it. Correggio, the established painter then at work in Parma, was around 30.

The sitter is a young man with red hair, dressed in black with a black cap, resting his head on his hand against a green ground, and nobody knows his name. The picture is painted on fir wood.