This portrait is known as \"l’ allegrezza\" [gaiety] after a poem by an abbot, giovan battista angelici, who accurately described it thus: \"(…) un quadro d’una tal bellezza, che in esso v’è l’essenza del pittore. / intese far l’idea dell’allegrezza / in sì leggiadra e gaia positura. Che li si vede in faccia la baldezza\" (…) [a painting of such beauty, that the essence of the painter is in it. / it renders the idea of gaiety / in such a fair and joyful pose. That one sees boldness in his face\"]. The abbot had begun to write his poem in 1720, so we know for certain that the work was painted before that date. Between the end of the second and the beginning of the third decade ghislandi painted various portraits of young boys clearly inspired by the same model that he reinterpreted each time, half way between real portrait painting and a sort of \"genre\" with symbolic overtones. In signing himself a dominican, ghislandi refers to the fact that, having become a minim friar when very young with the name of fra vittore. The nickname, he is known by, come from the convent of galgario (bergamo) where he retired. ". Object Type: painting. Genre: portrait. Date: between circa 1719 and circa 1720. Dimensions: height: 112 cm (44 in); width: 89 cm (35 in). Medium: oil on canvas. Collection: Museo Poldi Pezzoli. Fra Vittore Ghislandi - Ritratto di giovane detto "l'Allegrezza" (ca. 1719-20)
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