Overview
The inclusion of a dragon in this intriguing painting suggests that the subject references Saint George, who according to legend tamed and slayed a dragon. However, the specificity with which the features of the sitter are represented indicates that the painting is a portrait. The man’s identity is unclear. A helmet rests near him. The flag’s design is that of the battle flag of the Order of the Knights of Malta. Contrasting with the heroic narrative suggested by these accoutrements are the elegant, decorative costume of the subject, his slender form, and his inscrutable expression.
The attribution of the painting has been the subject of considerable debate and has evoked the names of several major Italian artists of the 16th century, among them
Caletti often deliberately worked in the styles of Dosso and the great Venetians. The National Gallery of Art painting shows especially striking similarities to some of Caletti’s etchings.
Entry
This handsome picture has presented something of a puzzle since it first appeared on the art market. It entered the Gallery’s collection in 1937 with an attribution to
The specificity with which the features of the sitter are represented indicates that the painting is a portrait. Beside the sitter rests a helmet, elaborately decorated with gilded relief.
The style of the picture is eclectic, combining elements of
None of these attributions to artists of the Cinquecento are convincing. As the catalog of Tintoretto’s paintings, especially his early works, has been clarified since the 1980s, it has become clear that the picture is not from that painter’s hand. This was especially apparent when it was juxtaposed with autograph works in the 1994 exhibition of Tintoretto portraits in Venice and Vienna. Tintoretto’s subjects almost always look directly out at the viewer and have a small, white catchlight in their eyes, absent here. His brushwork is looser and drier, and his portrait heads always convey a strong sense of physical structure, of the skull beneath the skin. In the Gallery’s picture the brushwork is carefully controlled, and the paint appears to have been more fluid when applied. X-radiography
The approach to the subject does show some characteristics of Dosso, evoking such works as Saint George (J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles)
As a few scholars have recognized, the picture’s puzzling combination of qualities, which has led to such diverse attributions, is best understood as the “retrospective romanticism” of a 17th-century artist looking back to Giorgione and Dosso through the lens of later painters. Hans Tietze and Erica Tietze-Conrat, in a manuscript opinion in NGA curatorial files, placed the picture in this context, noting the similarity to a portrait of a young man as a halberdier attributed to
Caletti was active from about 1620 until 1660. He signed some of his prints Ioseffo Cremonesi, implying that he was originally from Cremona, but his artistic career seems to have taken place almost entirely in Ferrara. Caletti’s style as a painter and draftsman reflects that of his contemporary Guercino, with whom he may have apprenticed. In addition, Caletti took inspiration from the painters of the previous century—in particular Dosso, who had been court painter in Ferrara for three decades, as well as Giorgione, Titian, and such Lombard painters as Altobello Melone and Romanino. Indeed, Caletti often deliberately worked in the styles of Dosso and the great Venetians. Whether he intended them to be deliberate forgeries or not, such paintings sold during his lifetime and in the years after his death on the antiquarian market as works by Giorgione, Dosso, and Titian. In the modern era, his paintings continued to pass as the work of these masters.
The National Gallery of Art painting shows especially striking similarities to some of Caletti’s etchings. For example, the male figure in The Lovers
The iconography of the picture remains ambiguous. Aside from the banner, there is no other indication that the sitter might be a Knight of Malta. The dragon suggests a reference to Saint George; perhaps the sitter was named Giorgio. Alternatively, if the picture did indeed have a Ferrarese origin, the fact that Saint George is the patron saint of Ferrara may have some connection to its subject. The overall mood of the picture, evoking Venetian and Ferrarese painting of a century before, may have been more important to the artist and patron than any specific references.
Robert Echols
March 21, 2019
Provenance
(Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Rome);[1] sold March 1932 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[2] gift 1937 to NGA.
Exhibition History
- 1932
- An Exhibition of Italian Paintings Lent by Mr. Samuel H. Kress of New York to Museums, Colleges, and Art Associations, travelling exhibition, 24 venues, 1932-1935, mostly unnumbered catalogues, p. 40 or p. 45, repro., as Portrait of a Man with a Flag by Dossi.
- 1938
- Exhibition of Venetian Painting From the Fifteenth Century through the Eighteenth Century, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, June-July 1938, no. 24, repro., as Portrait of a Man with a Flag by Dosso Dossi.
- 1938
- Special Exhibition of Venetian Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, Seattle Art Museum; Portland Art Museum, Oregon; Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Alabama, August-October 1938, no catalogue.
- 1994
- Jacopo Tintoretto--I Ritratti [Jacopo Tintoretto: Portraits], Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 1994, no. 5, repro.
Technical Summary
The painting has been lined, but the original support is a medium-weight, plain-weave fabric. X-radiographs show shallow cusping along all four margins, but it is strongest along the bottom edge, indicating that the painting may have been cut down slightly, particularly along the top and sides. In addition, the top and left edges of the painting show fractured paint and losses consistent with edges that have been cut. Microscopic analysis reveals a white ground beneath the paint layer. There is some indication that a thin brown wash was applied as an imprimatura layer over the ground, but this has not been confirmed. Infrared reflectography at 1.5 to 1.8 microns
The paint layers are generally thin, with some impasto only in a few highlights. Transparent glazes were applied over white underpainting to create the bright reds and greens. The decorations on the banner are heightened with gold leaf. The texture of the paint has been flattened, probably as a result of excessive pressure during lining. Thin, branched cracks with small areas of loss at the junction are visible in normal light. There are numerous small areas of retouching throughout the painting. The largest areas of retouching appear around the head in the background, in the beard, along the junction of the cloak and sleeve, and on the lower edge of the cloak. The entire picture suffers from abrasion. The flatness and opacity of the dark cloak suggest that it may have been repainted. Overall, the varnish is discolored and cloudy. The painting was treated by Stephen Pichetto in 1932.
Joanna Dunn and Robert Echols based on the examination reports by Carol Christensen and Ina Slama and the treatment report by Joanna Dunn
March 21, 2019
Bibliography
- 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: 151, as by Dosso Dossi.
- 1940
- Suida, Wilhelm. "Die Sammlung Kress: New York." Pantheon 26 (1940): 278, 280, repro., as by Tintoretto.
- 1941
- Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 58, no. 209, as The Standard Bearer by Dosso Dossi.
- 1942
- Bercken, Erich von der. Die Gemälde des Jacopo Tintoretto. Munich, 1942: 148, as by Tintoretto.
- 1942
- Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 243, repro. 99, as The Standard Bearer by Dosso Dossi.
- 1945
- Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 124, repro., as The Standard Bearer by Dosso Dossi.
- 1946
- Longhi, Roberto. Viatico per cinque secoli di pittura veneziana. Florence, 1946: 67, as by Tintoretto.
- 1950
- Pallucchini, Rodolfo. La giovinezza del Tintoretto. Milan, 1950: 107, fig. 182, as by Tintoretto.
- 1952
- Morassi, Antonio. “Review of La giovinezza del Tintoretto, by Rodolfo Pallucchini.” Emporium 115 (1952): 240.
- 1957
- Arslan, Edoardo. “Una Natività di Dosso Dossi.” Commentari 8 (1957): 260, as by Dosso Dossi.
- 1959
- Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 170, repro., as The Standard Bearer by Dosso Dossi.
- 1960
- Arslan, Edoardo. Le pitture del Duomo di Milano. Milan, 1960: 33 n. 44, as Ferrarese, “dossesco.”
- 1965
- Mezzetti, Amalia. Dosso e Battista Ferraresi. Ferrara, 1965: 124, as by Tintoretto.
- 1965
- Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 43, as The Standard Bearer by Dosso Dossi.
- 1968
- Gibbons, Felton. Dosso and Battista Dossi: Court Painters at Ferrara. Princeton, 1968: 263-264, fig. 222, as by Nicolò dell’Abbate.
- 1968
- National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 36, repro., as The Standard Bearer by Dosso Dossi.
- 1968
- Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 75-76, fig. 182, asThe Standard Bearer, Attributed to Dosso Dossi.
- 1969
- Béguin, Sylvie, ed. Mostra di Nicolò dell'Abate. Exh. cat. Palazzo dell'archiginnasio, Bologna, 1969: 78, as by Tintoretto.
- 1969
- Rossi, Paola. “Una recente pubblicazione sul Tintoretto e il problema della sua ritrattistica.” Arte Veneta 23 (1969): 266, as by Tintoretto.
- 1969
- Zeri, Federico. "Review of Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. Italian Schools XV-XVI Century by Fern Rusk Shapley." The Burlington Magazine 111 (1969): 456.
- 1970
- Béguin, Sylvie. "Review of Dosso and Battista Dossi: Court Painters at Ferrara, by Felton Gibbons." L' Oeil 183 (1970): 59, as by Tintoretto.
- 1970
- Richardson, Francis. “Review of Dosso and Battista Dossi, Court Painters at Ferrara, by Felton Gibbons.” Art Quarterly 33, no. 3 (1970): 310, as by Nicolò dell’Abbate.
- 1971
- Béguin, Sylvie. “Nicolo dell'Abate: étude radiographique.” Annales - Laboratoire de Recherche des Musées de France (1971): 59-61, repro. 60 and fig. 19, as by Tintoretto.
- 1972
- Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 201, as by Tintoretto.
- 1973
- Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XVI-XVIII Century. London, 1973: 390-391, as Attributed to Dosso Dossi.
- 1974
- Rossi, Paola. Jacopo Tintoretto: I ritratti. Venice, 1974: 25-26, 44, 130-131, fig. 21, as by Tintoretto.
- 1975
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 110, repro., as The Standard Bearer by Dosso Dossi.
- 1979
- Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:462-464; 2:pl. 330, 330A,B, as Self Portrait (?) as Saint George by Jacopo Tintoretto.
- 1985
- European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 391, repro., as by Jacopo Tintoretto.
- 1986
- Gilbert, Creighton. The Works of Girolamo Savoldo. The 1955 Dissertation with a Review of Research, 1955–1985. New York and London, 1986: 476-477, as by Dosso Dossi revival, c. 1600.
- 1987
- Rossi, Paola. “Paris Bordon e Jacopo Tintoretto.” In Paris Bordon e il suo tempo: atti del convegno internazionale di studi, Treviso, 28–30 ottobre 1985. Treviso, 1987: 29, as by Tintoretto.
- 1991
- Martini, Egidio. “Alcuni ritratti e altri dipinti di Jacopo Tintoretto.” Arte documento 5 (1991): 107, note 6, as by Nicolò dell’Abbate.
- 1995
- Rearick, W. R. “Reflections on Tintoretto as a Portraitist.” Artibus et Historiae 16, no. 31 (1995): 58-59, fig. 7, as by Girolamo Mirola.
- 1996
- Hackenbroch, Yvonne. Enseignes. Florence, 1996: 124, fig. 133, as Attributed to Dosso Dossi.