Portrait of a Young Man

about 1760–65

Oil on canvas, 97 1/4 × 69 1/4 in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

An unnamed young visitor surrounded by the props of a classical education: statue, relief, armillary sphere and books.

Look at

The red velvet suit with gold embroidery is the strongest colour, placed at the centre against a dark interior.
His open hand points to the classical relief and statue at left, linking the sitter to the antique.
At right a window of blue sky and green landscape breaks the dark wall, framed by the orange curtain.

For the Met, a Batoni portrait was almost a coming-of-age ritual for Grand Tourists in Rome; a full-length canvas was the grandest format he offered.
The Met identifies the relief as Antinous and the statue as Minerva; Rogers Fund, 1903.