Caravaggio’s Portrait of a Gentleman with a Ruff

Caravaggio’s Portrait of a Gentleman with a Ruff, which is a recent arrival in the Klesch Collection, has a short critical history. It also has a very limited history as regards the associated bibliography and media coverage, perhaps because the painting came to the fore prior to the social media explosion characteristic of recent years and, above all, at a time when today’s almost obsessive interest in Caravaggio was certainly not so developed. This interest has since expanded to incorporate all levels of communication, even the most widely popular. The Portrait first came to people’s attention in 1992 and despite the fact that the artist already exerted an appeal that few other painters could boast at the time, Caravaggio’s following was far removed from what it is today.

Text in English and Italian.

Gianni Papi is a leading scholar on Caravaggio and his circles in Rome and Naples. He has curated numerous exhibitions, including La “schola” del Caravaggio. Dipinti dalla Collezione Koelliker (Ariccia, 2006), Caravaggio e caravaggeschi a Firenze (Florence, 2010), Andrea Commodi (Florence, 2012) and Gherardo delle Notti (Florence, 2015). He has published these monographs: Cecco del Caravaggio (1992 and 2001), Orazio Borgianni (1993), Andrea Commodi (1994), Antiveduto Gramatica (1995), Gerrit Honthorst in Italia (1999), Spadarino (2003), Ribera a Roma (2007) and Bartolomeo Manfredi (2013). His articles have appeared in the most important journals of the field, including over forty in Paragone as well as others in The Burlington Magazine, Bollettino d’arte, Arte cristiana, Storia dell’arte, Studi di storia dell’arte, Ars Magazine, Artibus et historiae and Artitalies.