"Köstliches und kunstreiches Stickwerck" : portrét diplomata Gian Giacoma Leonardiho della Rovere hraběte z Montelabate ze zámku Bystřice pod Hostýnem

From the château at Bystřice pod Hostýnem comes a painting presenting the portrait of Gian Giacomo Leonardi della Rovere, Count of Montelabate (1498–1562), a diplomat of the Urbino court in Venice. The portrait came to the château with the ancient Pesaro family of Leonardi della Rovere, which in 1737 joined with the counts of Rottal, the owner of an extensive Moravian fideicommiss. The painting probably originated in the northern Italian court environment and its author is considered to be an artist active in Titian's circle. It is known that the person portrayed was a close friend of this famous Venetian artist. The portrait engages with its particularly remarkable iconography, for which we can hardly find a parallel elsewhere. Its composition consists of a "knight" in portrait in a ceremonial outfit, accompanied by a black squire also dressed in armour and holding a hunting spear, as an important symbol associated with the personality of Emperor Charles V, whom Gian Giacomo met and negotiated with several times as a diplomat. This depiction of a double portrait with a small black squire is unique and one of the first depictions in modern art history. The picture is dated post quem 1540.