Portrait of a Humanist

c. 1520

Sebastiano del Piombo

Artist, Venetian, 1485 - 1547

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 22


Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel transferred to hardboard

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 134.7 x 101 x 3.5 cm (53 1/16 x 39 3/4 x 1 3/8 in.)
    framed: 171.8 x 139.4 x 10.2 cm (67 5/8 x 54 7/8 x 4 in.)

  • Accession

    1961.9.38


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Ghizzi family, Naples; sold by 1821 to a Marquess of Lansdowne; Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne, Bowood Hall, Wiltshire, England, by 1821; by inheritance to Henry Petty-FitzMaurice, 4th Marquess of Lansdowne [1816-1866], Bowood Hall; by inheritance to Henry Charles Keith Petty-FitzMaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne [1845-1927], Bowood Hall, until at least 1914.[1] (Thos. Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London), on joint account with (M. Knoedler & Company, New York); and (Pinakos [Rudolf Heinemann], New York); sold 1955 to to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[2] gift 1961 to NGA.
[1] According to Mrs. Anna Jameson, Companion to the Most Celebrated Private Galleries of Art in London, 1844: 306-307.
[2] M. Knoedler & Co. Records, accession number 2012.M.54, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Stock book no. 10, p. 115, no. A5476, and Sales book no. 17, p. 155 (copies in NGA curatorial files). Receipt dated 7 February 1955 from M. Knoedler & Co., in NGA curatorial files. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1671.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1821

  • British Institution, London, 1821, as Frederigo da Bozzolo.

1832

  • British Institution, London, 1832, as Portrait of a Man.

1871

  • Royal Academy, London, 1871, as A Senator.

1914

  • The Venetian School. Pictures by Titian and his Contemporaries. Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1914, no. 27, repro., as Portrait of Federigo da Bozzolo.

1994

  • A Gift to America: Masterpieces of European Painting from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, four venues, 1994-1995, no. 1, repro. (shown only at last two venues: Seattle Art Museum and California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco).

2008

  • Sebastiano del Piombo, 1485-1547, Palazzo di Venezia, Rome; Kulturforum, Berlin, 2008, no. 36, repro.

Bibliography

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: 166, no. 65, repro.

1959

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 164, repro.

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: 119, repro. pl 109, color repro. pl. 110.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 308, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 122.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:188, color repro.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 108, repro.

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 167, fig. 398.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 324, repro.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:424-425; 2:pl. 303.

1981

  • Hirst, Michael. Sebastiano del Piombo. Oxford, 1991: 79, 101-102, repro.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 206, no. 251, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 371, repro.

Wikidata ID

Q20175661


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