Profile of a Man (Mantegna)

This sharp profile follows a fashion of mid-15th-century Italy, where princes and officials liked to be shown side-on, the way emperors appeared on ancient Roman coins and medals. Who painted it is an open question. It usually hangs under the name of Andrea Mantegna, and may date from around 1460, but scholars have passed it back and forth for decades, proposing Cosmè Tura, Francesco Bonsignori, Ercole de' Roberti and others, with no firm agreement. The panel was badly damaged and heavily overpainted before a cleaning in 1974 recovered more of the original surface. Who the sitter was is also lost, though his dark robe and cap suggest a Venetian magistrate or lawyer rather than a prince.