Portrait of a man, half-length, in a doublet with slashed sleeves, decorated with red and green ribbons, wearing an elaborate gilded helmet in the form of a lion-head with a dragon on top

In this arresting and striking portrait, the sitter looks at the viewer from underneath an elaborately designed and gilded helmet. The highly unusual headdress bears some superficial similarities to ceremonial parade helmets, or burgonets, produced in Italy during the mid-16th century. The lion-head shape of the faceguard echoes designs made by Filippo Negroli, the most renowned and skilled armourer of the 1500s. The presence of a winged dragon on a combat or decorative helmet is not unique, and could refer to the sitter's social standing or indicate heraldic connections. In Titian's portrait of Francesco Maria della Rovere, for example, the dragon on top of the helmet that lies on the table behind the sitter would seem to refer the crest of Aragon. It may be, however, that the helmet and costume of the sitter here were designed for participation in a carnival or carousel, probably in the mid-17th century, but their precise origin and intention remain unclear.