披甲武士肖像

Painters and sculptors argued for much of the 16th century over which art was superior, and the sculptors had one strong card. You can walk around a statue and see every side, but a painting shows you only one. This picture, made around 1529, is a painter's answer. A man in armour turns toward us, and two mirrors set behind him at an angle catch his back and his profile, so a single canvas delivers him from three sides at once. The idea was credited to Giorgione, who according to the writer Vasari had staged just such a demonstration. The sitter was long called Gaston de Foix, a French commander, though there is no evidence for that, and it may even be the painter himself. The polished steel and red velvet let Savoldo scatter reflections everywhere.