Portrait of a Man (oil on canvas)

The nobility and intensity of the face in this damaged early work by Titian makes it the most remarkable of the portraits in the collection at Ickworth. The style is typical of Titian’s work in the early 1510s. It is close to the National Gallery ‘Man with a Blue Sleeve’, both in composition and style. Titian painted a number of portraits of young men at this time. The sitters are all of a similar age, and probably recommended the artist to each other. The psychological insight in these pictures suggests that Titian – who would have also been a young man at this time – might have been friends with them. The picture was probably acquired by either George, 2nd Earl of Bristol (1721-75) while he was Ambassador to Madrid (1758-61), or by Lord William Hervey, son of the 1st Marquess, who was secretary to the Legation at Madrid from 1830-40.