Private collection, France;
With Galerie Canesso, Paris.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work is painted on a very fine weave linen. The linen has an old glue lining which is nicely stabilizing the pant layer. The varnish is attractive, and the retouches are careful and accurate. Some of these retouches are visible under ultraviolet light. There are thin lines of loss that have been retouched around all four edges, but none of these appear to be breaks in the linen. In the remainder of the picture, there are numerous tiny dots of retouches applied to diminish weakness that had developed, particularly in the darker colors. The hands and the face and the lighter colors of the beard are very well preserved. The restoration certainly presents the picture well and does not need to be re-examined.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Bedoli was the disciple and cousin by marriage of Parmigianino, with whom he associated closely, not only through his adoption of the latter's surname (Mazzola) but through his style of painting. This portrait exemplifies both Bedoli's debt to Parmigianino and his own independent artistic personality. He excelled in the field of portraiture and clearly executed many more than have yet been traced.¹ This painting shares distinct characteristics with other known portraits by Bedoli datable to circa 1540-45, and may also be assigned to this period. Though the identity of the sitter remains unknown, Bedoli conveys a clear sense of this gentleman's character. Unlike the sitters in his other portraits, who glance to one side, the gentleman here gazes directly at the viewer, fixing us with a stare that is at once severe and benign. The carved arm of the chair on which he rests his elbow, however, provides a certain sense of distance and lends him an air of dignified detachment (though pentimenti visible around the sitter's sholders imply that he may originally have been turned further towards the viewer). His dress suggests that he may belong to the legal profession, a notion that seems to be corroborated by his posture and clasped hands, almost as if he is listening to and contemplating a case. 

Stylistically this portrait is comparable to several of Bedoli's works from the early 1540s. The Portrait of a Philosopher, sold at Christie's, London, 8 July 2005, lot 69, also depicts a bearded gentleman set against a neutral background, the overall palette restricted to monochromes. In both these works Bedoli lends particular focus to the sitters' hands, which are highly distinctive - in contrast to the tapering fingers found in Parmigianino's portraits, Bedoli paints the fingers and nails of his sitters in a much more substantial, dry, and almost geometric fashion. He uses light to define the modelling of the face and the individual hairs of the beard of these men - a feature also evident in the Portrait of a tailor, in the Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte, Naples;² the monumental, seated pose is akin to the Portrait of an Antiquarian (Bartolomeo Prati) in the Galleria Nazionale, Parma.³

The present portrait was presented by David Ekserdjian as an autograph work by the artist in a paper entitled 'Vent'anni dopo: postille alla monografia di Mario Di Giampaolo', given at a conference on Bedoli held at Viadana on 6 May 2017, which will be published in due course.

1 The inventory of circa 1680 from the Palazzo del Giardino in Parma, for example, lists a number of portraits, several of the descriptions of which match features of the present painting; see M. di Giampaolo, Girolamo Bedoli 1500-1569, Florence 1997, p. 223.

2 Inv. no. 120; see Giampaolo 1997, p. 137, cat. no. 41.

3 Inv. no. 333; see Giampaolo 1997, p. 139, cat. no. 42.