A Knight of the Golden Fleece
c. 1495
Painter, French, active 1485 - 1530

Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on European walnut
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 68 x 53.7 cm (26 3/4 x 21 1/8 in.)
framed: 74.9 x 61.6 x 6 cm (29 1/2 x 24 1/4 x 2 3/8 in.) -
Accession
1964.16.1
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Possibly (Paul Cassirer, Berlin), 1920s. Arthur Sachs [1880-1975], New York, Paris, and Cannes, by 1927/1928;[1] gift 1964 to NGA.
[1] A photograph in the William Suhr archives, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, is annotated on the back with a note indicating that Suhr restored the painting when it belonged to Cassirer in the 1920s (Burton B. Fredericksen, letter to John Oliver Hand, 10 February 1997). It is possible that Sachs purchased the painting from Cassirer, although Walter Feilchenfeldt has not found the painting in the Cassirer records (e-mail to Anne Halpern, 21 August 2008). Sachs is listed as the owner in the catalogue for a 1928 exhibition in Detroit. Although Sachs lent a portrait by a "French Primitive" to the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1927, there is nothing to connect it with the National Gallery's painting (Abigail G. Smith, acting archivist, Harvard University Art Museums, letter to John Oliver Hand, 9 June 1993). The letters and e-mail are in NGA curatorial files.
Associated Names
Bibliography
1930
"The Fogg Art Museum." Report of the President of Harvard University, 1930-1931. Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1930: 20.
1937
Dupont, Jacques. Les primitifs français (1300-1500). Paris, 1937: 62, repro.
1938
Sterling, Charles. La peinture française: les primitifs. Paris, 1938: 140, fig. 187.
1942
Sterling, Charles. Les peintres du Moyen Âge: la peinture française. Paris, 1942: 67; Répertoire, 55, no. 147, pl. 145.
1946
Bouchage, Luc. "Louvre to California. Today's Collectors: Arthur Sachs," Art News, 45 (October 1946): 75, 77, repro.
1949
Ring, Grete. A Century of French Painting 1400-1500. London, 1949: 242, no. 329.
1961
Goldblatt, Maurice H. Deux grands maîtres français, le maître de Moulins identifés, Jean Perréal, 40 portraits identifiés. Paris, 1961: 68, pl. 8.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 53, as French 15th Century.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 45, repro., as French 15th Century.
1974
The Cleveland Museum of Art. European Paintings Before 1500. Catalogue of Paintings: Part One. Cleveland, 1974: 17, no. 6 (entry by Wolfgang Stechow).
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 134, repro., as French 15th Century.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 24, repro., as French 15th Century.
1993
Avril, François, and Nicole Reynaud. Les manuscrits à peintures en France 1440-1520. Paris, 1993: 368.
1996
Reynaud, Nicole. "Deux portraits inconnus par Jean Perréal au Louvre." Revue du Louvres et des Musées de France 46, no. 4 (October 1996): 42, 43, repro.
2009
Conisbee, Philip, et al. French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2009: no. 45, 215-218, color repro., as French 15th Century.
Inscriptions
French customs label; registration label from the Fogg Art Museum. 1: DECLARATIONS/ expedition/No/ du/ Gare expédite...; 2: BUREAU DE PARIS.../ DOUANES/ FRANCAISES... [63?] 5; 3:12.1953/ REGISTRATION NUMBER/ Ptg., Fr., Primitive., Artist Unknow[n]? ARTIST OR SCHOOL/ The Man with the Golden Fleece/ SUBJECT/ Lent by Mr. Arthur Sachs/ FOGG ART MUSEUM, HARVARD UNIVER [CITY]
Wikidata ID
Q20174651