Jacometto, 'Portrait of a Man', probably about 1475-98
About the work
Overview
Not many portraits by Jacometto survive but the National Gallery has two, including this one. The man’s costume tells us that he is a Venetian citizen. He’s painted in a style fashionable in late fifteenth-century Venice, which derives from Netherlandish painting: the three-quarter pose was new and popular, as were the strong lighting and the dark background, which his head and body seem to emerge from.
The portrait’s reverse is painted with a pair of delicate golden laurel sprigs tied with a ribbon. A Latin text in between reads: FELICES TER ET AMPLIVS/QVOS/IRRVPTA TENET COPVLA (‘Thrice happy and more are those bound together’). The laurel symbolised eternity so it’s possible that the portrait’s message relates to marriage.
Jacometto made several portraits with painted reverses – a trend that also came from Netherlandish painting. Reverses usually included mottos, heraldry and symbols.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Portrait of a Man
- Artist
- Jacometto
- Artist dates
- active about 1472; died before 1498
- Date made
- probably about 1475-98
- Medium and support
- egg tempera and oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 26 × 19 cm
- Inscription summary
- Inscribed
- Acquisition credit
- Layard Bequest, 1916
- Inventory number
- NG3121
- 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
-
2009Titian’s Triumph of LoveThe National Gallery (London)21 July 2009 - 20 September 2009
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2013Long Loan to the Victoria & Albert Museum (2013 - 2015)Victoria and Albert Museum1 March 2013 - 30 November 2015
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2015Long Loan to the Victoria & Albert Museum (2015 - 2018)Victoria and Albert Museum1 May 2015 - 1 November 2018
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2016Aldus Manutius: The Venice RenaissanceGallerie dell'Accademia (Venice)19 March 2016 - 19 June 2016
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2018Long Loan to the Victoria & Albert Museum (2018 - 2021)Victoria and Albert Museum2 November 2018 - 1 November 2021
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2021Long Loan to the Victoria & Albert Museum (2021 - 2024)Victoria and Albert Museum2 November 2021 - 1 November 2024
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2024Hidden Faces: Covered Portraits of the RenaissanceThe Metropolitan Museum of Art1 April 2024 - 7 July 2024
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2024Long Loan to the Victoria & Albert Museum (2024 - 2027)Victoria and Albert Museum2 November 2024 - 1 November 2027
Bibliography
-
1951Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, London 1951
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1986Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Earlier Italian Schools, revised edn, London 1986
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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.
Images
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