Francesco II Gonzaga, Fourth Marquis of Mantua

Baldassare d'Este

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the shoulders up, a pale-skinned boy faces the left in profile against a lapis-blue background in this vertical portrait painting. He stares steadily forward with brown eyes, rosy cheeks, and closed pink lips. His chin is pulled slightly down and back. The boy's brown hair falls from bangs across his forehead in a straight, diagonal line to the nape of his neck. He wears a brimless black cap with a high, rounded crown. His high-necked, black garment has gold, black, and pearl embellishments around the neckline and down the front. The collar is edged with white along the top.