"a gentleman from the House of Barbarigo, [the artist's] friend, who he held in high esteem", "in a doublet of silvered satin" was described by Vasari in his Life of Titian. The family was then at the height of its power, and had supplied two Doges of Venice in succession from 1485 to 1501. The Barberigo identification has met with some resistance. Charles Hope, reviewing an exhibition including the piece in the National Gallery in the London Review of Books concluded that claims on early Titian are still too speculative, asking "Why not admit that we still don’t know very much about Venetian painting in the first decade of the 16th century, instead of pretending to a knowledge that we do not possess?" Nonetheless this theory was supported by the National Gallery in the title they used in 2017; Gerolamo Barberigo, who became thirty in 1509 at the time the portrait was painted, has been chosen as the most likely member of the family to be represented. Thirty was the age at which patrician Venetian men became qualified for significant political roles, and perhaps a good moment to commission a portrait. There is another portrait, in Alnwick Castle and usually attributed to Palma Vecchio, which might show the same sitter and also be by Titian. Cecil Gould and Kenneth Clark thought that the painting might be a self-portrait by Titian; there are no other certain ones from before his old age with which to compare the likeness. The pose is convenient for a right-handed artist painting himself in a mirror, and the convex mirrors of the day may have lengthened the face slightly, and account for the slightly supercilious air of the subject, seeming to look down his nose at the viewer. At this point in his career Titian was becoming known as a portrait painter, and might have wished to advertise his skill to future clients by having a self-portrait to show them. Rembrandt saw the painting in Amsterdam and the next year copied the pose in his Self-portrait at the age of 34 (also National Gallery) as well as a self-portrait etching of 1639, Self-portrait leaning on a Sill (Bartsch number B21). In both of these, as in many others of his self-portraits, his costume is in many ways more from Titian's period than his own. Provenance The work, or possibly a copy of it, was part of