ndependent inquirer, Mr. Dickes, who published in the
_Magazine of Art_, 1893, the results of his investigations, the
conclusion at which he arrived being that this is the portrait of
Prospero Colonna, Liberator of Italy, painted by Giorgione in the year
1500.

Briefly stated, the argument is as follows:--

I. (1) The person represented closely resembles
Prospero Colonna (1464-1523), whose authentic
likeness is to be seen--

(_a_) In an engraving in Pompilio Totti's
"Ritratti et Elogie di Capitani illustri.
Rome, 1635."

(_b_) In a bust in the Colonna Gallery, Rome.

(_c_) In an engraving in the "Columnensium
Procerum" of the Abbas Domenicus
de Santis. Rome, 1675.

(All three are reproduced in the article in question.)

[Illustration: _Hanfstaengl photo. National Gallery, London_.

PORTRAIT OF A MAN]

(2) The description of Prospero Colonna, given
by Pompilio Totti (in the above book)
tallies with our portrait.

(3) The accessories in the picture confirm the
identity--e.g. the St Andrew's Cross, or
saltire, is on the Colonna family banner;
the bay, emblem of victory, is naturally
associated with a great captain; the rosary
may refer to the fact of Prospero's residence
as lay brother in the monastery of the
Olivetani, near Fondi, which was rebuilt
by him in 1500.

II. Admitting the identity of person, chronology
determines the probable date of the execution
of this portrait, for Prospero visited
Venice presumably in the train of Consalvo
Ferrante in 1500. He was then thirty-six
years of age.

III. Assuming this date to be correct, no other Venetian
artist but Giorgione was capable of producing
so fine and admittedly "Giorgionesque"
a portrait at so early a date.

IV. Internal evidence points to Giorgione's authorship.

It will be seen that the logic employed is identical with that by which
I have tried to establish the identity of Signor Crespi's picture. In
the present case, I should like to insist on the fourth consideration
rather than on the other points, iconographical or chronological, and
see how far our portrait bears on its face the impress of Giorgione's
own spirit.

The conception, to begin with, is characteristic of him--the pensive
charm, the feeling