Full-length portrait of Giacomo Pesenti, Carlo Ceresa (San Giovanni Bianco 1609 – Bergamo 1679) attributable

Carlo Ceresa (San Giovanni Bianco 1609 – Bergamo 1679) attributable
Full-length portrait of Giacomo Pesenti

Oil painting on canvas

This fascinating portrait, depicting a full-length gentleman and dating back to the 17th century, illustrates the stylistic and compositional details typical of the pictorial production of the Lombardy area, Bergamo in particular: this reference is confirmed in elements such as natural light, the sober and austere setting and above all the subtle psychological characterization of the face.

We are inclined to identify the hand of the portraitist Carlo Ceresa, one of the most illustrious Bergamo figure painters of the 600th century, capable of developing a style of intense realism and acute psychological investigation. In his works, and our portrait perfectly reflects his canons, an extraordinary naturalistic imprint, great realism, remarkable

essentiality.

Those traits of severity, moral rigor and austerity typical of his portraiture find a perfect balance here: never dignified and rhetorical, his portraits are profoundly linked to the concept of counter-reformation. Immortalizing the main personalities of the moment, he established himself as a point of reference for the Bergamo aristocracy, from Vertova to Pesenti to Secco Suardo.

The subject of the portrait is Giacomo Pesenti, immortalized here in life-size with a rigorous black dress, his left hand resting on a table, on which the necessary for writing and a manuscript are placed, and the right, with a ring to seal the little finger, dropped at his side while holding his gloves.

He wears a suit of incredible rigor, dressed as befits a man of his high social class, while the sharp light focuses on his face, with an intensity that seems accentuated by the reflection of the white collar, with its clear profile.

For Ceresa it is not the richness of the dress that gives value to the person depicted, it is necessary to give feeling and bring out the character of the person and this he succeeds wonderfully, helped by his ability to grasp the essence of the person and return it to us in painting through the face and the light used as a strong expressive element.

In fact, the image highlights that 'counter-reformed' composure typical of the portraiture of painters active in this area and era, adhering to a realism that includes austerity of intent and character, which result in portraits, like the one in question, of great impact and character.

The gentleman, with his long silver hair and a hint of a mustache, is portrayed with a penetrating gaze fixed on the observer, with an energetic and charismatic appearance, as befitted the members of the most influential Bergamo families who achieved power and wealth with the textile trade and financial trafficking.