Portrait of Giacomo di Andrea Dolfin

Portrait of Giacomo Dolfin
Artist	Titian
Year	c. 1531–1532
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	104.9 cm × 90.9 cm (41.3 in × 35.8 in)
Location	Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles

Portrait of Giacomo di Andrea Dolfin, formerly known only as Portrait of a Man, is an oil painting by the Venetian master Titian, made about 1531.^[1] It is part of the collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, though not currently on display.^[1]

The sitter was identified as Giacomo di Andrea Dolfin by Charles Hope in 1982,^[2] based on the partially legible inscription on the letter held in the subject's right hand, which is addressed to himself.^[3] Philip Conisbee, in 1991, gave the following decipherment: "Al Cl … mo Giacomo delfin / M ... co D ... Prvi / a Vrcinovi [or Venezia]".^[3] Dolfin is probably being referred to as provveditore at Orzinuovi, which position he is known to have occupied in 1531 and 1532.^[3][4] Titian shows him garbed in the costly burgundy robes of a Venetian magistrate.^[3]

• Probably seen by Vasari in the house of Danese Cattaneo during his stay in Venice in 1566, described thus: un ritratto di man di Tiziano, d'un gentiluomo da ca' Delfini ("a portrait by the hand of Tiziano of a gentleman of the Delfini family").^[3][5]
• In the collection of Antonio Canova, mentioned in the inventory after his death in 1822.^[3]
• Gifted by The Ahmanson Foundation (M.81.24) to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.^[3]

Venetian Nobleman
Artist	Titian
Year	after 1530
Medium	Oil on canvas
Dimensions	108.0 cm × 91.4 cm (42.5 in × 36.0 in)
Location	Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena
Accession	F.1965.1.065.P

There is an old copy of the painting in the collection of the Norton Simon Museum, Pasadena, entitled Portrait of a Venetian Nobleman, which is thought to be either a studio version or a later copy by Titian himself.^[6] As revealed by x-ray analysis, the copy was painted over another fully finished and cut-down portrait of a bearded, seated figure which was probably by another hand (perhaps Leandro Bassano).^[6]

The painting was acquired by Joseph Duveen in 1928 and published in a German catalogue by Wilhelm Suida in 1939.^[7] It includes a type of cloth hanging or unfolded curtain behind the figure of Dolfin. The same type of cloth hanging was once in the original portrait but proved to be a later addition and was removed during a conservation effort in 1980.^[3]

• Leo Blumenreich, Berlin; sold October 1928 to:
• Duveen Brothers, London and New York; sold 1965 to:
• The Norton Simon Foundation.^[6]

• 
  Portrait of Giacomo Dolfin (c. 1531)
• 
  Portrait of Giacomo Dolfin (c. 1531; detail)

• List of works by Titian

• Hope, Charles (March 1982). "Titian's 'Portrait of Giacomo Dolfin'". Apollo, 115(241): pp. 158–161.
• Marandel, J. Patrice (2019). Gifts of European Art From The Ahmanson Foundation. Vol. 1: Italian Painting and Sculpture. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art. pp. 43, 134, 157.
• Vasari, Giorgio (1915). Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors & Architects. (Translated from the Italian by Gaston du C. De Vere). Vol. 9. London: Macmillan and Co Ld. & The Medici Society, Ld.
• Suida, Wilhelm (1939). Tizian. Zürich. Plate CXCV.
• "Portrait of Giacomo di Andrea Dolfin". LACMA Collections. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
• "Venetian Nobleman". Norton Simon Museum. Retrieved 29 August 2022.