Catalogue Roberti Fine Art, TEFAF Maastricht 2026 (1) compressed - Flipbook - Page 90
Fig. 3. Ottavio Leoni, Portrait of an aristocratic youth,
1608-1613. Private collection.
Fig. 4. Ottavio Leoni, Portrait of a gentleman with auburn
hair, 1629. École nationale supérieure dea beaux-arts,
Paris. Inv. Mas.2709 .
In works of this scale, Leoni succeeded in transferring the stylistic elevation and psychological
depth he usually reserved for his graphic art. Indeed, it is beyond doubt that only on rare occasions
did the artist equal in his painted works the chromatic refinement, sense of light, and descriptive
precision that distinguish the majority of his drawings and several of his small-format works,
among which the present example constitutes a significant addition.
Translated from Yuri Primarosa’s original Italian text.
¹Y. Primarosa, Ottavio Leoni (1578-1630), eccellente miniator di ritratti. Catalogo ragionato dei disegni e dei
dipinti, Rome 2017, p. 729. On Leoni’s miniature, see pp. 117-127.
²Y. Primarosa, Ottavio Leoni (1578-1630)... cit., p. 685.
³Ibid.
tPrimarosa, pp. 631, 632 and 635.
uPrimarosa, p. 636.
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