Note
The present work will be accompanied by a copy of a letter signed by Prof. Riccardo Spinelli dated February 28, 2019, in which he confirms the authenticity of this newly rediscovered work by the artist. The portrait depicts San Carlo Borromeo (1538-1584), the cardinal and Archbishop of Milan from 1564 to 1584. A central figure of 16th century Tuscany and Lombardy, he was one of the major protagonists of the Catholic Counter-Reformation against the Protestant Reformation, becoming a Saint in 1610. In the present work, Borromeo is depicted in bust length, rotated towards the left and captured in a very dramatic, holy light which is reflected by the precious ivory crucifix the Saint is prominently holding in his hand. Carlo Dolci is known to have depicted Carlo Borromeo two other times: first in an oil on canvas from 1659, now in the Musée Magnin in Dijon, France; and in an oil on panel commissioned by the cardinal Carlo Medici now in The Palazzo Pitti, Florence, circa 1656-1661. In the present work, the artist stays clear of a somber, pathetic representation of the Saint, and instead insists on the physical traits of his physiognomy, including a lean face, a growing beard, small pursing lips as well as deep dark eyes that reveal the model's fierce temperament but also indicate a certain kindness and softness, which are both new in the model's iconography. According to Prof. Spinelli, the present work was likely executed early in the artist's career, around 1630. The overall attention to detail, namely expressed via the figure's skin, the powerful hand clutching onto the crucifix and the distinctive light, relates to the Portrait of Stefano della Bella in The Palazzo Pitti (1631) as well as to the Portrait of Ainolfo de' Bardi (1632) in the Uffizi Galleries, Florence. The characteristic robe worn by cardinals, which Dolci here captures in a soft, shimmering pink, echoes his Saint John in the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco, while his halo, depicted in bold orange hues against a deep blue background, is reminiscent of the Virgin and Child in the Borghese Gallery, Rome.