Attributed to Gianlorenzo BERNINI
Italian 1598-1680
Portrait of a young man (formerly Self-Portrait)
c.1640
oil on canvas
57.0 x 42.0 cm
Everard Studley Miller Bequest 1976
E3-1976

Fewer than twenty paintings by Bernini, the most important Italian sculptor of the seventeenth century, have been securely attributed to him. The small number of paintings by Bernini is something of a hindrance to definitive statements on attribution of this work.

Some scholars have proposed a number of artists as the likely author of this work, ranging from other Italian painters to possibly a Spaniard from the circle of Velasquez. The loose brushstroke and lack of detail outside the face indicate that it may be a highly detailed sketch rather than a fully worked, finished painting, which adds to the difficulty of attributing the work. These same qualities have also contributed to the notion that it is a self-portrait.

The attribution to Bernini was made in the 1970s, and is supported by some