VITTORE GHISLANDI called FRA GALGARIO (Bergamo, 1655 - 1743) Portrait of a young man with cap, turquoise sash and white collar Oil on canvas, 57X47 cm Provenance: Milan, Giuseppe Beltrami collection Milan, Annibale Beltrani collection Milan, private collection (1949) Bibliography: C. Caversazzi, Mostra di ritratti del Settecento, Milan 1910, p. 73, no. 231 I Pittori della realtà in Lombardia, exhibition catalogue edited by C. Renata, G. Testori, R. Longhi, Milan 1953, p. 53, no. 89, table 89 M. C. Bozzoli, Vittore Ghislandi, in I Pittori Bergamaschi. Il Settecento, I, Bergamo 1982, p. 130, n. 196- p. 186, fig. 1 Fra Galgario nelle collezioni storiche milanesi, edited by S. Colombo, Milan 2003, p. 22, n. 39 An unparalleled portraitist, Vittore Ghislandi was an extraordinary investigator of the human spirit and, if in depicting the Lombard aristocracy, his realism is characterised by the otherness emanating from the effigies, revealing their most deteriorating aspects, when he depicts young people and children we notice a different expressive register in him. At this point, the analysis of Bergamasque society that Testori published in the 1950s in Paragone is useful in order to understand the political decadence of the ruling class of the time, noting that Fra Galgario distorted the traditional representation of the aristocracy by virtue of a modern and Enlightenment spirit, almost as if to emphasise that the aristocratic institution was close to decline (cf. Testori 1954). In contrast, the 'youthful heads' exude a disarming and confident simplicity of spirit, establishing an immediate emotional dialogue with the observer. This disposition is very evident in the canvas presented here, from whose image, albeit obscured by yellowed paint and dirt, the quality shines through. It is enough, in fact, to dwell on the gaze and the eyes, not to mention the white puff of the collar from which the carmine red and blue of the turquoise band chromatically emerge, to ascertain the pictorial quality and sprezzatura. Having said this, it is necessary to dwell on the provenance of the work in question and the other two in the catalogue, which, until 1949, were part of the famous collection of Giuseppe Beltrami, an antiquarian and collector who can be considered the director of the exhibition dedicated to 18th century portraits held in the rooms of the Permanente in 1910 (cf. Caversazzi 1910). Leafing through the exhibition catalogue, one can see that among the many illustrious names of the Lombard aristocracy mentioned in the list of lenders, as many as 62 works can be traced back to Beltrami, including 10 by Ghislandi, to whom the final room of the exhibition was dedicated, allowing for the first time 'an evaluation of his evolutionary parabola, marking a turning point in studies on the artist' (cf. Colombo 2003, pp. 9-17). Returning to the work, its dating to the third decade is presumed due to the chromatic texture, which in some passages becomes frothy and frolicsome, in analogy with the Portrait of a Young Painter in the Koelliker collection (cf. Gozzoli 1982, p. 129, no. 193- Colombo 2003, pp. 44-45) and also in the Portrait of a Young Artist in the Carrara collection (cf. Gozzoli 1982, p. 103, no. 117). Reference bibliography: G. Testori, Il Ghislandi, Ceruti e i veneti, in Paragone, 57, 1954, pp. 16-33 R. Ferrario, A. Magnani, in Il Gran teatro del mondo, l'anima e il volto del Settecento, exhibition catalogue edited by F. Caroli, Milan 2003, pp. 206-213 Fra' Galgario. Le seduzioni del ritratto nel '700 europeo, exhibition catalogue edited by F. Rossi, Milan 2003, ad vocem