Baldassare Castiglione   

Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (1515)

by:   Raphael      category: Painting   
related artifacts: Raimondi Pietro Aretino

note:  Pietro Bembo noted seeing the work in Castilgione's house in Mantua in 1516 (in a letter dated 19 April 1516), however, most scholars date the work to between 1514-1515 as this was the period during which Castiglione became a good friend of Raphael. There is, however, also a mention of a later, second portrait createdby Raphael of his colleague around 1519, when Raphael and Castligione were embroiled in the crafting of the famed letter to Pope Leo X on the state of the antiquites of Rome. While it seems likely that two were created, it is accepted that one is lost. The stylistic similarities here with those of portraits around 1515 resulted in the dating to this earlier engagement.