Follower of Anthonis Mor, 'Portrait of a Bearded Man', about 1560-80
About the work
Overview
We don't know who this man is, though similar collars and beards appear in portraits of the 1560s and 1570s. The painting is on paper, mounted on a walnut panel, and is unfinished. It might have been a study, perhaps for one sitter in a group, or possibly a pattern which the artist kept in his workshop and from which finished portraits could be made as required.
Many of the distortions of the face are those practised by Anthonis Mor. The far eye is out of perspective and too large, the shadow behind the nose is oddly dark and narrow, and the ear is not foreshortened enough, so it seems to stick out from his head.
Mor had many assistants – Joachim Beuckelaer at one time worked as his drapery painter – and the upper lashes of the sitter’s left eye catch the light in a way seen in the work of Sanchez Coello, one of his pupils.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Portrait of a Bearded Man
- Artist
- Follower of Anthonis Mor
- Artist dates
- born between 1516 and 1521; died 1576/7
- Date made
- about 1560-80
- Medium and support
- oil on paper, mounted on wood
- Dimensions
- 39.5 × 27.2 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bequeathed by George Fielder and received on the death of his widow, 1908
- Inventory number
- NG2295
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Lorne Campbell, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings: With French Paintings before 1600’, London 2014; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
-
1945Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, London 1945
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1955Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School, 2nd edn (revised), London 1955
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1987Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Netherlandish School, 3rd edn, London 1987
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
-
2014
L. Campbell, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings: With French Paintings before 1600, 2 vols, London 2014
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.
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