Giovanni Gerolamo Grumelli, called Il Cavaliere in Rosa (The Man in Pink)

The second husband of Isotta Brembati, Giovanni Gerolamo Grumelli was born into one of the most prominent of Bergamo’s noble families. His opulent attire of woven pink silk with silver plant and flower motifs makes this one of Moroni’s most arresting portraits. Seemingly fallen from the niche above, the sculptural fragment (similar to the torso in Alessandro Vittoria) conveys the passage of time or succession of ages. Correspondingly, the fictive relief on the wall depicts the biblical scene of the prophet Elijah ascending to heaven on his fiery chariot and leaving his miraculous cloak to fall to his successor, Elisha. Along with the Spanish motto, these iconographic details presumably allude to an aspect of the sitter’s biography, though exactly what this might be is unknown.