A Man with a Quilted Sleeve

A Man with a Quilted Sleeve
Artist	Titian
Year	c. 1510[1]
Catalogue	NG1944
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	81.2 cm × 66.3 cm (32.0 in × 26.1 in)
Location	National Gallery, London

A Man with a Quilted Sleeve is a painting of about 1510 by the Venetian painter Titian in the National Gallery, London,^[2] measuring 81.2 by 66.3 centimetres (32.0 in × 26.1 in).^[3] Though the quality of the painting has always been praised, there has been much discussion as to the identity of the sitter. It was long thought to be a portrait of Ariosto, then a self-portrait, but since 2017 has been called Portrait of Gerolamo (?) Barbarigo by the gallery,^[4] having also been called merely Portrait of a Man,^[5] the title used here,^[6] The Man with the Blue Sleeve,^[7] and no doubt other variants.

Placing a parapet, a low wood or stone sill or ledge, between the subject and the viewer is a common feature of early Renaissance Italian portraits, as a useful way of solving "the principal compositional problem" of portraits at less than full-length, how "to justify the cutting of the figure".^[8] By having the large sleeve project slightly beyond the parapet, Titian "subverts" the usual barrier effect, bringing the picture space into "our space" as viewers.^[9] The turning pose, with the head slightly atilt and an eyebrow appearing raised, exactly halfway across the composition, adds life and drama.^[10] The "broad spiral motion in depth of the head and arm" suggests that Titian had some awareness of contemporary developments in painting in Florence.^[11] The sleeve is brilliantly painted,^[12] and the "merging of the shadowed portions of the figure with the grey atmospheric background ... is one of the most innovative and influential aspects of the painting".^[13]

The painting comes from a crucial period in the development of the Italian Renaissance portrait, which was then being led by Venice. According to John Steer, Titian retains the "mood of generalized inner mystery" that Giorgione had brought to his portraits (which may not represent individuals who commissioned the painting) but shows the personality and "physical assurance" of his sitter with new force and realism. To some extent the "ardent gaze" of this and other figures is adopted from paintings of religious subjects.^[14]

The pose was borrowed in two self-portraits by Rembrandt, who saw the painting (or a copy) in Amsterdam. Soon after, it apparently moved to England via France. It entered the National Gallery in 1904 as NG1944, and in 2017 was on display in Room 2.^[15]