Andrea de' Franceschi

late 16th or early 17th century

Shown from the chest up, an older, pale-skinned man dressed in scarlet red faces us in this vertical portrait painting. His slender body is turned slightly to our right, but his head turns back to our left so he gazes at a point just over our left shoulder. His large, deep-set dark blue eyes are lined with crow’s feet over high, angular cheekbones. His dark brown beard is shot through with silvery gray, and he has brown, chin-length hair and bangs across his lined forehead. His red garment has a high neck, and the opening down the front is lined with white, perhaps fur. A black sash drapes over his left shoulder, to our right. He is illuminated with warm light from the upper left and set against a dark brown background. A portion of an inscribed plaque is visible just over his right shoulder. It reads, “…TIS …OIX.”

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.

Andrea de’ Franceschi pursued a highly successful career in the civil service, ultimately rising to become grand chancellor of Venice. This office, which was the highest attainable to any Venetian from a nonnoble family, was held for life. In rank it was senior to that of senator, and it was junior only to that of doge and procurator of San Marco.

A 17th-century biographer of Titian noted that De’ Franceschi was a close friend of the painter. De’ Franceschi’s will, dated 1535, mentions that at the time he owned two portraits of himself by Titian. Evidence indicates that this painting was not one of them, as the style is difficult to reconcile with that of Titian. The handling of paint is harsher and cruder, and the colors are less subtly modulated. Also, scientific analysis of the present portrait reveals no underdrawing or alterations that would suggest it is an original composition. The work is most likely a copy either of a version of the composition now in the Detroit Institute of Arts, or of another close version of it. The Gallery’s painting has been cut along the bottom; originally, the sitter may have been depicted holding a letter, as he does in other versions of this portrait.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 23

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 64.8 x 50.6 cm (25 1/2 x 19 15/16 in.)
    framed: 87.15 x 73.98 x 7.78 cm (34 5/16 x 29 1/8 x 3 1/16 in.)

  • Accession

    1937.1.35

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  Italian Paintings of the Sixteenth Century: Andrea de' Franceschi, late 16th or early 17th century

Scholarly Series:  Italian Paintings of the Sixteenth Century

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

("Anthony," London); purchased before 1859 by Francis Richard Charteris, Lord Elcho [1818-1914, from 1883 the 10th earl of Wemyss], London, and Gosford House, Lothian, Scotland;[1] by inheritance to his son, Hugo Richard Charteris, 11th earl of Wemyss [1857-1937], Gosford House, until 1927; (Wildenstein & Co., New York); sold 1928 to (M. Knoedler & Co., New York); purchased January 1928 by Andrew W. Mellon, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; deeded 28 December 1934 to The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[2] gift 1937 to NGA.
[1] The painting was lent by Lord Elcho to the British Institution in 1859. Confirmation that the painting was not inherited by Lord Elcho, but was purchased by him from a London dealer named “Anthony,” was kindly provided to Peter Humfrey by Shelagh, Countess of Wemyss and March, on the basis of family papers at Gosford House. See also Shelagh Wemyss, "Francis, Lord Elcho (10th Earl of Wemyss) as a Collector of Italian Old Masters," Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History 8 (2003): 73-76, and on the collecting by the earls of Wemyss and March, Pictures from Gosford House Lent by The Earl of Wemyss and March, exh. cat., National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1957; "The Earls of Wemyss and March," in Dutch Art and Scotland: A Reflection of Taste, exh. cat., National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1992: 171.
[2] Mellon date deeded to Mellon Trust is according to Mellon collection records in NGA curatorial files and David Finley's notebook (donated to the National Gallery of Art in 1977, now in the Gallery Archives).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1859

  • Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French, and English Masters, British Institution, London, 1859, no. 40, as Head of a Man by Titian.

Bibliography

1859

  • Catalogue of Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, French, and English Masters with which the Proprietors have favored the Institution. Exh. cat. British Institution, London, 1859: 9, no. 40.

1877

  • Crowe, Joseph Archer, and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle. Titian, His Life and Times. 2 vols. London, 1877: 2:64-65.

1927

  • Berenson, Bernard. “While on Tintoretto.” In Festschrift für Max J. Friedländer zum 60. Geburtstage. Leipzig, 1927: 231-235.

1929

  • Holmes, Charles. “The Inscription upon Titian’s Portrait of Franceschi.” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 55 (1929): 159-160.

1932

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works with an Index of Places. Oxford, 1932: 577.

1933

  • Suida, Wilhelm. Tizian. Zürich and Leipzig, 1933: 164.

1936

  • Berenson, Bernard. Pitture italiane del rinascimento: catalogo dei principali artisti e delle loro opere con un indice dei luoghi. Translated by Emilio Cecchi. Milan, 1936: 496.

1937

  • Tietze, Hans. Titian: Paintings and Drawings. Vienna, 1937: 320.

1941

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 196, no. 35, as by Titian.

1942

  • Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 240, repro. 200, as by Titian.

1946

  • Riggs, Arthur Stanley. Titian the Magnificent and the Venice of His Day. New York, 1946: 133.

1947

  • Berenson, Bernard. “Ristudiando Tintoretto e Tiziano.” Arte Veneta 1 (1947): 29-30.

1949

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 37, repro., as by Titian.

1950

  • Tietze, Hans. Titian. The Paintings and Drawings. London, 1950: 403.

1953

  • Pallucchini, Rodolfo. Tiziano. Lezioni di storia dell’arte. 2 vols. Bologna, 1953-1954: 1:174.

1954

  • Catalogue of the Paintings and Sculptures given by E. B. Whitcomb and A. S. Whitcomb to the Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1954: 107.

1956

  • Suida, Wilhelm. “Miscellanea Tizianesca, II.” Arte Veneta 10 (1956): 76.

1957

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Venetian School. 2 vols. London, 1957: 1:192.

1958

  • Gore, St. John. “Five Portraits.” The Burlington Magazine 100 (1958): 352.

1960

  • Valcanover, Francesco. Tutta la pittura di Tiziano. 2 vols. Milan, 1960: 1:101 no. 214a.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 129, as by Titian.

  • Troche, Gunter. “Venetian Paintings of the Renaissance at the M. H. De Young Memorial Museum.” Art Quarterly 28 (1965): 98.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture: Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 117, repro., as by Titian.

1969

  • Pallucchini, Rodolfo. Tiziano. 2 vols. Florence, 1969: 1:78-79, 266.

  • Valcanover, Francesco. L’opera completa di Tiziano. Milan, 1969: 107.

  • Wethey, Harold. The Paintings of Titian. 3 vols. London, 1969-1975: 2(1971):101.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 203, 513, 645.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 344, repro.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:506-508; 2:pl. 355, as After Titian.

1980

  • Fasolo, Ugo. Titian. Florence, 1980: 39-41.

1983

  • Shearman, John. The Early Italian Pictures in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen. Cambridge, 1983: 268, 271.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 398, repro.

1989

  • Magani, Fabrizio. Il collezionismo e la commitenza artistica della famiglia Widmann, patrizi veneziani, dal Seicento all'Ottocento. Memorie dell’Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, vol. 41. Venice, 1989: 42.

1992

  • Hochmann, Michel. Peintres et commanditaires à Venise (1540–1628). Rome, 1992: 356-358.

2001

  • Pedrocco, Filippo. Titian: The Complete Paintings. New York, 2001: 152.

2002

  • Weigel, Thomas. “Begräbniszeremoniell und Grabmäler venezianischer Grosskanzler des 16. Jahrhunderts.” In Praemium Virtutis: Grabmonumente und Begräbniszeremoniell im Zeichen des Humanismus. Edited by Joachim Poeschke, Britta Kusch, and Thomas Weigel. Münster, 2002: 148.

2007

  • Humfrey, Peter. Titian: The Complete Paintings. Ghent and New York, 2007: 149.

2016

  • Howard, Deborah. “Titian’s portraits of Grand Chancellor Andrea de’ Franceschi.” Artibus et Historiae 37, no. 74 (2016): 139-151.

Inscriptions

upper left on tablet: ...TIS/...OIX

Wikidata ID

Q3937462

You may be interested in

Loading Results