Raphael and the Beautiful Banker: The Story of the Bindo Altoviti Portrait

by David Alan Brown, Jane Van Nimmen

Five centuries ago a stunningly beautiful young man with flowing blond locks sat for a portrait by Raphael. In the artist’s dynamic conception, Bindo Altoviti turns as if to speak to his Florentine bride, Fiammetta. Ardently admired over the years, as it is today, Raphael’s portrait was also coolly received by more than one influential critic who cast a shadow on its reputation. This gloriously illustrated book tells the story of the portrait’s creation and of its unexpected trajectory through history.
Focusing on viewers’ responses to Bindo Altoviti, the book describes the transformation of the picture from a family treasure into a supposed self-portrait of the artist; its public display in Munich, where first it was celebrated, then dismissed by skeptics claiming that it was neither of nor by Raphael; and its acquisition by canny English dealers who lured the panel out of Nazi Germany. Purchased as a Raphael by American collector Samuel H. Kress, the painting was donated in 1943 to the newly opened National Gallery of Art, where Bindo’s image has beguiled visitors ever since.

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2005

Reviews

[Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A surprisingly accessible art history book, a portrait, if you will, of a portrait. This is the life story of a single painting by Raphael as it bounced between a family's palaces in Rome and Florence before finally after a hundred or more years of trying someone was finally able to get the family to part with it. The winner was King Ludwig 1 of Bavaria. The second half of the story: the rise and fall of its reputation in Munich and how it left Germany just before the start of WWII and began a new life in America as one of the prized possessions of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC.