Updated 15 May 2025
On Display Permanent collection
On Display
Portrait of a Man
| Materials and Techniques | oil on canvas |
|---|---|
| Size（cm） | 117×89.8 |
| Credit Line | Purchased |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1968-0002 |
This portrait shows a man standing and leaning on a table, presented in a three-quarter view. The man has a rich black beard, and wears an upper garment made of lustrous black fabric, further topped by a black robe. His left hand is holding the edges of the robe together at his waist, and he holds a small book in his right hand. A single book rests on the table. A bright green curtain cuts diagonally across the background with sharp folds, seemingly lit from the upper left. The effects of oil painting techniques can at first glance be seen to speak of the characteristics of the Venetian school. B. Berenson attributes the work to Sebastiano del Piombo, and identifies the subject as Ercole II, Duke of Ferrera, but he leaves question marks around these attributions. However, the resemblance between this work and confirmed portraits by Sebastiano is purely a surface effect. R. Pallucchini considers this painting to be the work of the Florentine painter Francesco Salviati. While W. R. Rearick has verbally concurred with Pallucchini's attribution, Rearick suggests that when Salviati spent time in Venice (1539-40), he painted this portrait under the influence of the painting style of that city.(Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no. 16)
Provenance
Sir Herbert Cook, Richmond; Purchased by the NMWA, 1968.
Exhibition History
- 1963
- , Finch College Museum, New York, 0 1963 - 0 1963, cat. no. 10
- 1999
- Florence and Venice: Italian Renaissance Paintings and Sculpture from the State Hermitage Museum, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 20 March 1999 - 20 June 1999, cat. no. 42
- 2021
- National Touring Exhibition of Western Art from the NMWA: When Here and Afar Meet: Western Art in Yamagata / Western Art in Takaoka, Yamagata Museum of Art, 17 July 2021 - 27 August 2021, Takaoka Art Museum, 10 September-24 October 2021, cat. no. Y2_14 | T2_16
Bibliography
- 1913
- Borenius, T. Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond & elsewhere in the collection of Sir Frederick Cook. vol. 1. 1913, p. 167.
- 1932
- Brockwell, Maurice W. Abridged Catalogue of the Pictures at Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey, in the Collection of Sir Herbert Cook, Bart. London, 1932, p. 31, no. 141(attributed to school of Sebastiano del Piombo).
- 1932
- Berenson, B. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932, p. 424 (attributed to Paolo Veronese).
- 1933
- Gombosi, G. Thieme-Becker-Künstlerlexikon. Bd. 27, Leipzig, 1933, p. 74 (with doubt).
- 1944
- Palluccini, Rodolfo. Sebastian Veniziano. Milano, 1944, p. 187 (attributed to Francesco Salviati).
- 1957
- Berenson, B. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Venetian School. vol. 1, London, 1957, p. 164 (attributed to Sebastiano del Piombo).
- 1969
- Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 3 (1968), 1969, Sasaki, Hideya. Francesco Salviati 《Portrait of a Man》. pp. 49-60; Catalogue of the New Acquisitions. pp. 36-37, no. P-366. repr.
- 1971
- Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1971 (Japanese), no. 93, repr.
- 1975
- Les cent chefs-d'œuvre du Musée National d'Art Occidental. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1975 (Japanese), no. 4, repr.
- 1978
- Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1978 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 4, repr.
- 1979
- The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo: Catalogue of paintings. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1979, no. 255, repr. (as the work by Sebastiano del Piombo?).
- 2006
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2006 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 16, col. repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 16, col. repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 21, col. repr.
- 2021
- When Here and Afar Meet: Western Art in Yamagata/Western Art in Takaoka (exh. cat.). Shinfuji, Atsushi, ed. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2021, pp. 69, 177, cat. no. Y2_14 | T2_16, col. repr.