Possibly by Francesco Granacci, 'Portrait of a Man in Armour', about 1510
About the work
Overview
Au unidentified young man wearing plate armour stands before an open window that looks out onto the Piazza della Signoria in Florence. The Palazzo della Signoria, known as the Palazzo Vecchio, seat of the Florentine government, as well as the Loggia dei Lanzi, are depicted behind him. He appears about to withdraw his sword – perhaps to show his eagerness to defend the city. Depending on when the portrait was painted, he may be portrayed as defending the Florentine Republic, established in 1494, or the city’s long-time oligarchic rulers the Medici, who retook it In September 1512.
In the background is Michelangelo’s giant marble sculpture of David, unveiled on 8 September 1504 – a potent symbol of the Florentine Republic. The Loggia dei Lanzi appears in the picture very much as it does now, but the street between it and the Palazzo Vecchio has changed completely. This is now the location of the Uffizi galleries, housed in government offices begun by Giorgio Vasari in 1560.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Portrait of a Man in Armour
- Artist
- Possibly by Francesco Granacci
- Artist dates
- 1469/70 - 1543
- Date made
- about 1510
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 70.5 × 51.5 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Presented by wish of the late Sir Anthony Coningham Stirling, KCB, 1871
- Inventory number
- NG895
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Martin Davies, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2014Building the Picture: Architecture in Italian Renaissance PaintingThe National Gallery (London)30 April 2014 - 21 September 2014
Bibliography
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1879G. Frizzoni, 'L'arte italiana nella Galleria Nazionale di Londra', Archivio storico italiano, IV/113, 1879, pp. 246-81
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1883J.P. Richter, Italian Art in the National Gallery, London 1883
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1891G. Frizzoni, Arte italiana del Rinascimento, Milan 1891
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1896H.C. Ulmann, 'Piero di Cosimo', Jahrbuch der Königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen, XVII, 1896, pp. 42-64, 120-42
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1898F. Knapp, Piero di Cosimo: Sein Leben und seine Werke, Halle (Saale) 1898
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1928C. Gamba, 'Ridolfo e Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio, I', Dedalo, IX, 1928, pp. 463-90
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1938J.G. Mann, 'A Further Account of the Armour Preserved in the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Grazie near Mantua', Archaeologia: Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, LXXXVII, 1938, pp. 311-52
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1948J. Alazard, The Florentine Portrait, London 1948
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1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1961M. Davies, The Earlier Italian Schools, 2nd edn, London 1961
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1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
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1991J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
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1994C. Del Bravo, 'Ritratti petrarchesi', Artista, 1994, pp. 128-35
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2000J. Bridgeman and K. Watts, 'Armour, Weapons and Dress in Four Paintings by Dosso Dossi', Apollo, CLI/456, 2000, pp. 20-37
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2001F.-J. Verspohl, Michelangelo Buonarroti und Niccolò Machiavelli: Der David, die Piazza, die Republik, Bern 2001
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2003M. Spring, R. Grout and R. White, '"Black Earths": A Study of Unusual Black and Dark Grey Pigments used by Artists in the Sixteenth Century', National Gallery Technical Bulletin, XXIV, 2003, pp. 96-114
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2004R.D. Smith, Heavy Metal: Europese Harnassen in het vizier (Focus on European Armour) (exh. cat. Legermuseum, 5 November 2004 - 30 January 2005), Delft 2004
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2006D. Geronimus, Piero di Cosimo: Visions Beautiful and Strange, New Haven 2006
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.