Portrait of Tommaso Raimondi

Amico Aspertini was a Bolognese artist whose work spans the late 15th and early 16th centuries. In his own time he was famed as a portraitist. This portrait demonstrates the artist’s mastery of the technique of painting in oils, which were much more flexible than tempera and allowed for far more precise tonal gradation. The play of light and shadow on the face models it and gives it volume, while light also creates the different textures of the clothes, skin and hair, etc.

The sitter of this portrait was Tommaso Raimondi, a jurist and poet from Cremona. The artist is clearly interested in portraying his sitter as an individual, albeit by accentuating only his more flattering features.