The portrait was produced as a result of Raphael's friendship with Castiglione, whose ascent in courtly circles paralleled that of the artist. They were close friends by 1504, when Castiglione made his second visit to
Urbino, as Raphael was gaining recognition as an artist in the humanist circle of the city's ducal court. Raphael was commissioned by
Guidobaldo da Montefeltro in 1505 to paint a picture for
Henry VII; Castiglione traveled to England to present the finished painting to the king. It is possible that Castiglione later served as a "scholarly advisor" for Raphael's
The School of Athens, and that the depiction of
Zoroaster in that fresco may be a portrait of the courtier.
Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione may have had a practical and intimate purpose. Castiglione left his family behind when he went to Rome, and he wrote a poem in which he imagined his wife and son consoling themselves with the picture during his absence. The composition is pyramidal. It's one of only two Raphael's paintings on canvas (it was considered before as originally painted on a wood panel, and later
transferred to canvas). Copies produced in the 17th century show Castiglione's hands in full, suggesting that the picture was subsequently cut by several inches at the bottom (at a later date researchers determined it has not been cut). Castiglione is seated against an earth-toned background and wears a dark doublet with a trim of squirrel fur and black ribbon; on his head is a turban topped by a notched beret. The attire indicates that this was painted during the winter, likely that of 1514–1515, when Castiglione was in Rome by appointment of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro to
Pope Leo X. The soft contours of his clothing and rounded beard express the subtlety of the subject's personality. In his
The Book of the Courtier Castiglione argued on behalf of the cultivation of fine manners and dress. He popularized the term
sprezzatura, which translates roughly to "nonchalant mastery", an ideal of effortless grace befitting a man of culture. The concept eventually found its way into English literature, in the plays of
Ben Jonson and
William Shakespeare. The picture's elegance of execution is consistent with the attitude of the subject. Art historian
Lawrence Gowing noted the counter-intuitive handling of gray velvet (actually a fur) as contrary to an academic modeling of form, with the broad surfaces banked in rich darkness and the fabric shining most brightly as it turns away from the light. For Gowing, "The picture has the subtlety of baroque observation but the stillness and noble contour of classic painting at its peak." The portrait's composition and atmospheric quality suggest an homage to the
Mona Lisa, which Raphael would have seen in Rome. Notwithstanding shifts in the critical appraisal of Raphael's work, the painting has enjoyed consistent admiration from other artists.
Titian was strongly influenced by this portrait, and may have first viewed it in Castiglione's home in Mantua. The Venetian master's
Portrait of a Man (Tommaso Mosti?) is generally seen as owing a strong compositional debt to Raphael's painting, and also reflects Castiglione's influential advice regarding the restrained elegance of attire recommended for courtiers. In 1639
Rembrandt drew a sketch of the painting while it was being auctioned in
Amsterdam, and subsequently referenced the composition in several self-portraits. A copy of the painting, now in the
Courtauld Institute of Art, was painted by
Peter Paul Rubens. Both Rembrandt's and Rubens's versions display
Baroque flourish, quite different from the original painting's sober restraint. In the 19th century
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres chose a frame for his
Portrait of Monsieur Bertin much like that which adorned Raphael's painting, perhaps indicating Ingres's ambitions, while also underscoring the paintings' similarities of coloration and extraordinary illusionism. At the turn of the 20th century
Henri Matisse copied the painting, and
Paul Cézanne exclaimed of Raphael's portrait: "How well rounded the forehead is, with all the distinct planes. How well balanced the patches in the unity of the whole...." Now in the
Louvre, the painting was acquired by
Louis XIV in 1661 from the heirs of
Cardinal Mazarin. ==Influenced paintings==