Allegorical Portrait of Dante

late 16th century

A pale-skinned man sits, holding an open book next to his lap so the pages face us in this square painting. His body is angled to our right, and he turns his head farther in that direction, so his face is in profile. He has heavy brows, high cheekbones, and a prominent, hooked nose. His lower lip projects beyond his thin upper lip, and his chin juts out. He is lit from our right, so the hollows of his cheeks are in shadow. A vivid red cap encircled by a wreath of laurel leaves covers his dark hair. His long, cranberry-red robe splits over the shoulders to show navy-blue sleeves. His left hand, farther from us, braces the top of the open book, which comes up to chest height. A poem written in verses of three lines each in Italian can be read on both pages. The man’s other hand is lifted and hovers, palm down, over a miniature skyline by his side. The buildings there include a dome with a pointed lantern and two towers. A lighter tan area in the lower left corner, beneath the skyline, is difficult to interpret. The man sits on a grassy outcropping, which is mostly lost in the shadows. A body of blue water stretches into the distance beyond the outcropping to meet a conical mountain layered like a cake with ten sections. Trees grow on the narrowest, topmost level, and flames line the second level. A boat, tiny in scale, sails across the water near a grassy, zigzagging shore in the distance. Light from the upper right creates a creamy yellow beam across the otherwise darkened sky.

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 21

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 126.9 x 120 cm (49 15/16 x 47 1/4 in.)
    framed: 165.7 x 158.8 x 8.3 cm (65 1/4 x 62 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1961.9.57

More About this Artwork

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Artwork history & notes

Provenance

William Graham [1817-1885], London.[1] Quintin McGarel Hogg, 2nd viscount Hailsham, London; (his sale, Sotheby's, London, 4 November 1953, no. 28, as by Vasari); purchased by Mawston. (International Financing Co., Panama); sold 1956 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[2] gift 1961 to NGA.
[1] The painting does not appear in the 1886 Graham estate sale.
[2] Provenance according to Kress files in NGA curatorial records. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/183.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1961

  • Exhibition of Art Treasures for America from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1961-1962, no. 24.

2000

  • Visions du Futur: Une histoire des peurs et des espoirs de l'humanité, Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, 2000-2001, no. 75, repro.

2010

  • Bronzino. Artist and Poet at the Court of the Medici., Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 2010-2011, no. IV.4, repro.

Bibliography

1961

  • Walker, John, Guy Emerson, and Charles Seymour. Art Treasures for America: An Anthology of Paintings & Sculpture in the Samuel H. Kress Collection. London, 1961: 3, repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 136, repro.

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:182, as by Pontormo.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 50.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 42, repro.

1973

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XVI-XVIII Century. London, 1973: 21-22, fig. 44.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 128, repro.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:514-516; 2:pl. 360, as Circle of Giorgio Vasari.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 184, no. 207, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 154, repro.

1994

  • Costamagna, Philippe. Pontormo. Milan, 1994: 85 repro., 86, 221, as by Bronzino.

1997

  • Cecchi, Alessandro. Agnolo Bronzino, Firenze, 1996, no. 20, repro.

Inscriptions

center on the open book, the first forty-eight linesof Canto XXV of Paradiso, beginning "Se mai continga..."

Wikidata ID

Q20176428

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