Provenance:

Private Collection, Ireland

Description:

This portrait of a man can be identified as that of a Mason, as he holds a trowel, very prominently, in his right hand. Traditionally architects were portrayed holding a plan of one of their most celebrated buildings, whilst masons were given more practical attributes.

The sitter can possibly be identified as Pietro Morettini, an engineer and mason from the very North of Italy. He had followed his father to France to find work at the young age of fourteen. While in Besançon he caught the eye of the Seigneur, Sébastian Le Prestre, who was to employ Morettini is his own fortification designs but also as a contributor for the substantial expansion plans of Louis XIV. As a result he gained first hand experience of the siege of Namur, a city in which he found his wife (with whom he had 11 children) but also a deep affection. It actually made him switch sides, leaving the employ of Le Prestre, settling in Namur (despite the unrest) and then working under Menno van Coehoorn in the Netherlands. Coehoorn was one of the most important and influential engineers of contemporary fortification design on the continent. Morettini returned to Locarno in 1703 and was to become one of the foremost engineers in Europe. Not only can he be credited with building the first road tunnel in Switzerland (the Underloch) but also as a highly successful military engineer, helping the Republic of Genoa (from 1717 to 1736) to maintain its position as one of the most powerful maritime and military powers of the time.