Michiel Coxcie, 'A Man with a Skull', about 1560 or later
About the work
Overview
This seemingly straightforward portrait was one of the National Gallery’s most controversial purchases of the nineteenth century. Bought in 1845 as ‘the Gallery’s first Holbein’, its authenticity was quickly cast into doubt. Recent dendrochronological analysis of the panel – a method of determining the age of a piece of wood by analysing its pattern of rings – shows that it was made after Holbein’s death.
We're not sure who the sitter was, but the coat of arms in the upper corner suggests he came from Brussels or Leuven or the surrounding area and is probably a member of the Heverlee family. Michiel Coxcie was the most important portrait painter working in Brussels when this was made, and stylistic comparison with his other paintings confirms him as the artist.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- A Man with a Skull
- Artist
- Michiel Coxcie
- Artist dates
- born between 1498 and 1500; died 1592
- Date made
- about 1560 or later
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 97 × 75.4 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1845
- Inventory number
- NG195
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
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.
Exhibition history
-
2010Close Examination: Fakes, Mistakes and DiscoveriesThe National Gallery (London)30 June 2010 - 12 September 2010
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2014Strange Beauty: Masters of the German RenaissanceThe National Gallery (London)19 February 2014 - 11 May 2014
Bibliography
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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.