Portrait of a Boy

Unidentified (Italian) · ca. 1800

In this portrait the artist captured the forceful and confident personality of a boy. The youth wears a jacket, red vest, and a stylish white cravat with an upturned collar, suggesting his future role in society as an upper-class gentleman. The sitter was probably eleven or twelve years old when his portrait was made, but his identity, as well as the artist’s, is unknown.