Follower of Frans Pourbus the Younger

Possibly, Margrave Alexander Pallavicini (1853-1933), Schloss Stübichhofen, Austria;

Possibly, his sale, London, Knight, Frank & Rutley, 27 May 1927, lot 18 (as F. Pourbus the Younger, "A Portrait of Vincenzos Gonzaga The Second of Mantua").

Francesco IV Gonzaga (1586-1612), 5^th Duke of Mantua, was the eldest son of Vincenzo I Gonzaga, 4^th Duke of Mantua, and Eleanora de Medici. Frans Pourbus the Younger served as court painter to Vincenzo Gonzaga from 1600 to 1609, during which time the artist painted several portraits of the Duke and his family. The sitter's physiognomy closely relates to a bust-length portrait of Francesco IV Gonzaga formerly considered to be by Pourbus the Younger and now attributed to the artist’s workshop.¹

The present portrait may be the version formerly in the Margrave Pallavincini's collection and sold in his 1927 sale, in which it was identified as a work by Pourbus depicting Vincenzo II Gonzaga, younger brother of Francesco IV.

1.  See B. Ducos, Frans Pourbus Le Jeune 1569-1622, Dijon 2011, p. 301, cat. no. P.C.25, reproduced.