Portrait of Count Giovanni Battista Vailetti

This is a large picture, nearly two and a half metres tall, and it puts Count Giovanni Battista Vailetti at full length and close to life size, a Bergamo nobleman standing at his ease. Around 1710 Bergamo was a mainland city of the Venetian Republic, and its counts and merchants wanted portraits that showed their rank without stiffness. What the painter gives them is a strange honesty. The coat and sash are worked in loose, glittering strokes that catch the light, while the face above is studied closely, the tired skin and the eyes set down much as they were. The hands and the heavy fall of fabric are painted wet and quick, so that up close they dissolve into marks and only settle into cloth and fingers once you step back.