Portrait of a Young Man

1558

Shown from the thighs up, a man with pale, peachy skin looks at us in front of a dark gray background in this vertical portrait painting. His body and head angle to our right so he looks out of the corners of his brown eyes under dark, cocked brows. He has a rounded nose, flushed cheeks, the suggestion of a goatee, and his full, pale pink lips are closed. His face is nestled in a narrow froth of lace that lines the top of the high collar of his pale yellow jerkin. Eight iron-gray buttons line the front of the collar and continue down onto the chest. The jerkin is slashed vertically down the front and both short, cap sleeves. A black belt fits tightly around his narrow waist and a sword hangs from the far hip. The long sleeves under the jerkin are charcoal gray, as are the puffy tops of his pants, His right elbow, to our left, is slightly bent as his arm rests by his side. The backs of his other fingers rest in a loose fist against his far hip. A dark triangular form in the lower left corner of the painting could be the corner of a dark table. An inscription to the left of the man’s head reads “AE.S.20 Ao. 1558.”

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 97.5 x 69.9 cm (38 3/8 x 27 1/2 in.)
    framed: 121.6 x 94.6 x 7.3 cm (47 7/8 x 37 1/4 x 2 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1961.9.79

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Probably Prince Karl Anton von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen [d. 1885].[1] His son, Prince Leopold von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen [d. 1905]. His son, Prince Wilhelm August Karl von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen [d. 1927]. Fürstlich Hohenzollernsches Museum für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Sigmaringen. (A.S. Drey, Munich and New York, 1928-1929); (M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., 1929-1934); (Robert Frank, Ltd., 1934).[2] Baron Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza [1875-1947], Villa Favorita, Lugano-Castagnola, Switzerland, by 1937; by inheritance to his daughter, Baroness Gabrielle Bentinck-Thyssen [1915/1917-1999]; on consignment 1951 to (M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York); purchased February 1952 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1961 to NGA.
[1] See Franz Reiffel, "Das Fürstlich Hohenzollernsche Museum zu Sigmaringen: Gemälde und Bildwerke," Städel-Jahrbuch 3-4 (1924), 59. The painting is not mentioned in F.A. von Lehner, Fürstlich Hohenzollernsches Museum für Wissenschaft und Kunst, Verzeichniss der Gemälde (Sigmaringen, 1871; 2d ed., 1883), suggesting either that it was acquired after 1883 or that it hung in some other property of the family.
[2] See M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Stock Book no. 8, page 68, no. A537 (copy in NGA curatorial files).
[3] See M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Commission Book no. 5A, page 50, no. CA 3996, and Sales Book no. 16, page 383 (copies in NGA curatorial files, see also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1722).

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1928

  • Flemish Primitives Formerly in the Collection of the Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, A.S. Drey, New York, 1928, unpaginated, as by Antonis Mor.

  • Alte Pinakothek, Munich, 1928, no cat.

1932

  • Naval and Military Portraits, M. Knoedler & Co., Inc., New York, 1932, no. 9, as by Antonis Mor.

1998

  • Tussen Spanje en Oranje [Between Spain and Orange], Stichting Huis Bergh, 's Heerenberg, The Netherlands, 1998, no. 2, repro.

  • Loan to display with permanent collection, Stichting Huis Bergh, 's Heerenberg, The Netherlands, 1998-1999.

Bibliography

1924

  • Reiffel, Franz. "Das Fürstlich Hohenzollernsche Museum zu Sigmaringen: Gemälde und Bildwerke." Städel-Jahrbuch 3-4 (1924): 59.

  • Friedländer, Max J. Die altniederländische Malerei 14 vols. 1924-1937. Leiden, 1936: 13:172, no. 359, pl. 66. (English ed., 14 vols., 1967-1976. Leiden, 1975: 13:102, no. 359, pl. 179.)

1929

  • Trosée, J.A.G.C. Het eerste Tijdvak van het Verraad van Graaf Willem van den Bergh (Gelre. Werken, no. 18). Arnhem, 1929: 6, frontispiece.

1931

  • The Arts 17 (1931): repro. cover.

1932

  • Parnassus 4 (1932): 20, repro.

1937

  • Heinemann, Rudolf. Stiftung Sammlung Schloss Rohoncz. 3 vols. Lugano-Castagnola, 1937: 1:107, 2:pl. 98.

1956

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1951-56. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida and Fern Rusk Shapley. National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1956: 132, no. 50, repro., as by Antonis Mor.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 288, repro., as by Antonis Mor.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 93, as by Mor.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 82, repro., as by Mor.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 246, repro.

1977

  • Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 96, fig. 83, as by Netherlandish(?) Master [Anthonis Mor].

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 284, repro.

1986

  • Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1986: 206-208, repro. 207.

2021

  • Gruting, René van. "‘Portrait of a Young Man’/ Het vermeende portret van graaf Willem IV van den Bergh door Anthonis Mor." Jaarboek Achterhoek en Liemers, 45 (2021): 210-224, repro.

Inscriptions

upper left: .AE.S.20 / Ao.1558.

Wikidata ID

Q20176583

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