Bust of a Nobleman in Armor

About 1610

Attributed to Pietro Tacca
Italian, 1577-1640

This portrait bust of an unknown nobleman in armor, sporting the stiff ruff characteristic of men’s fashion in Europe in the first quarter of the 17th century, was once thought to portray the Genoese aristocrat Ambrogio Spinola or an anonymous naval officer. Previously attributed to the French Mannerist sculptor Germain Pilon (1535–1590), it currently bears an attribution to Pietro Tacca, court sculptor to the Medici grand dukes in the first half of the 17th century. However, the immediacy and supplely rendered flesh of this portrait suggest that it was executed by an artist associated with Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598–1680), the most famous Italian sculptor of the period.

Status: On View, Gallery 238
Department: Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist: Pietro Tacca (Sculptor)
Title: Bust of a Nobleman in Armor
Place: France (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1620–1630
Medium: Marble
Dimensions: 63.5 × 59.7 × 23.5 cm (25 × 23 1/2 × 9 1/4 in.); With socle: H.: 81.3 cm (32 in.)
Credit Line: Tillie C. Cohn Endowment
Reference Number: 1964.1100
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/22278/manifest.json

Art Institute of Chicago, “Acquisitions, July 1, 1964 – June 30, 1965,” Art Institute of Chicago Annual Report 1964-65, p. 29.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Man in Armor,” Calendar of the Art Institute of Chicago 60, 3 (May 1966), p. 77 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, “European Portraits, 1600–1900, in the Art Institute of Chicago,” 8 July – 11 September 1978, no. 36.

Mrs. F. Gray Griswold (died 1940), New York, by 1940; sold, Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, 15 February 1941, no. 16, to Joseph Brummer, New York [Brummer Index Card N6783 in The Cloisters Library and Archives, New York]; sold, Parke-Bernet Galleries, 8 June 1949, Part III of the Art Collection belonging to the Estate of the late Joseph Brummer, no. 410. Collection of Baron Cassel van Doorn (died 1952) and Baronness Cassel van Doorn, by 1952; sold, Hôtel Drouot, Paris, 9 April 1954, no. 86bis. Blumka Gallery, New York, by 1964; sold by Blumka Gallery to the Art Institute, 1964.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.