PIETRO LABRUZZI (attr. A)

(Rome, 1739 - 1805) Portrait of a gentleman Oil on canvas, 78X66 cm The painting, generically attributed to the French school, can be traced back to Pietro Labruzzi. The typology of the person portrayed is rigorously pertinent to the neoclassical current in which Pompeo Batoni, Anton Raphael Mengs and Anton von Maron took part. The cut of the image and the refined clothing, described in the smallest details from the purple velvet tailcoat to the waistcoat, represent the affluent social condition of the personage, eager to emanate his good taste and culture. In contrast to Mengs, Pietro Labruzzi sets up his paintings with greater naturalness, in analogy with Batonian portraiture, mainly intended for English patrons stationed in Rome. Here he shows his status casually, looking towards the viewer with sustained confidence. The light coming from the upper left highlights the well-defined face and the colours of the clothing, detaching the figure from the background and creating a dry effect of considerable formal elegance. These characteristics allow the work to be considered part of Labruzzi's catalogue, in analogy, for example, with the Portrait of Giovanni Battista Piranesi. Reference bibliography: A. Busiri Vici, Pietro Labruzzi, pittore romano di ritratti , in Scritti d'Arte, Rome 1990, pp. 9-11 A. Ghidoli, il Settecento a Roma, exhibition catalogue edited by Anna Lo Bianco and Angela Negro, Cinisello Balsamo 2005, pp. 229 ; 230