Head and shoulders portrait of a man in profile to the left, set against a black background. He is clean-shaven and is wearing a deep-red coat, beneath which his undershirt is visible at the neck, and a soft sugar-loaf hat.

The large number of restorations to the picture makes attribution difficult, although the silhouette of the face appears to be original and the picture is of very refined quality in parts. Various artists have been suggested, but it seems most likely to have originated in or near Ferrara. It resembles the Ercole de’ Roberti's Bentivoglio portraits of 1474-7 (Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington), and the sitter’s distinctive hat can be matched in Cossa’s frescoes of 1469-70 in the Palazzo Schifanoia, Ferrara.