Portrait (supposed to be of Battista Fiera)

An old inscription on the back of this panel names the sitter as Battista Fiera, a doctor and poet in Mantua, and the National Gallery keeps that name at a distance, calling the portrait only supposed to be of him. Fiera wrote about Mantegna and said he admired Costa, who moved to Mantua as the Gonzaga family's painter in 1506. The strong light and deep shadow here, though, point to the early 1490s, years before the two men lived in the same city. That leaves the identification open. The man turns out of the darkness as if he had just noticed us, head tilted, lips parted. There is no flattery in it. Red hair falls to his shoulders, two warts sit on his cheek, and a plum-coloured gown rises to a high collar above a painted stone ledge.