Portrait of a Gentleman
by LOTTO, Lorenzo, Oil on canvas, 118 x 105 cm
The melancholy Portrait of a Man by Lorenzo Lotto is probably the portrait of the widower, Mercurio Bua, because of the small skull surrounded by rose petals, reminiscent of a fatal confinement. Mercurio Bua was an Albanian condottiere in the service of the Venetian government
It is assumed by some scholars that the painting represents the self-portrait of the artist, however, this identification is not generally accepted.