Possibly by Jacopino del Conte, 'Portrait of a Boy', about 1540
About the work
Overview
The boy regarding us stands in a relaxed confident manner, with one hand on his hip and the other holding the hilt of his sword. The vertical glossy gold stripes of the curtain effectively frame his elegant pose. The costume suggests a date in the mid-1540s and is plainly that of a wealthy family; the full-length format of the portrait also points to an aristocratic sitter.
The boy has been identified as Orazio Farnese (1532–1553), a grandson of Pope Paul III. At the age of nine in 1541, Orazio was sent to the court of King Francis I of France with the aim of promoting a Farnese-Valois alliance. His family commissioned the portrait to mark this occasion. It was the first of several portraits Jacopino was to paint of Farnese family members.
Jacopino has recorded the decoration of the costume and the textures of the various fabrics in exquisite detail. This little boy is not dressed as a child but as a miniature nobleman, even carrying his own sword.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Portrait of a Boy
- Artist
- Possibly by Jacopino del Conte
- Artist dates
- about 1515? - 1598
- Date made
- about 1540
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 129 × 61 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1860
- Inventory number
- NG649
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Cecil Gould, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1987; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
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1860'The National Gallery', Art Journal, 1860
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1883J.P. Richter, Italian Art in the National Gallery, London 1883
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1889E. Müntz, L'histoire de l'art pendant la Renaissance, Paris 1889
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1891G. Frizzoni, Arte italiana del Rinascimento, Milan 1891
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1892G. Morelli, Italian Painters: Critical Studies of Their Works, 2 vols, London 1892
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1896B. Berenson, The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance, London 1896
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1901A. Venturi, Storia dell'arte italiana, 11 vols, Milan 1901
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1904E. Schaeffer, Das florentiner Bildnis, Munich 1904
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1911H. Schulze, Die Werke Angelo Bronzinos, Strasbourg 1911
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1916F.M. Clapp, Jacopo Carucci Da Pontormo: His Life and Work, New Haven 1916
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1928A. McComb, Agnolo Bronzino: His Life and Works, Cambridge MA 1928
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1935W. Suida, 'Opere sconosciute di pittori parmensi', Crispoli, 1935, pp. 3-11
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1962Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools (excluding the Venetian), London 1962
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1975I.H. Cheney, Francesco Salviati, Ann Arbor 1975
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1975C. Gould, Delaroche and Gautier: Gautier's Views on the 'Execution of Lady Jane Grey' and on other Compositions by Delaroche, London 1975
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1978A.R. Milstein, The Paintings of Girolamo Mazzola Bedoli, Phd Thesis, Harvard University 1978
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1978F. Zeri, 'Rivedendo Jacopino del Conte', Antologia di Belle Arti, II/6, 1978, pp. 114-22
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1987Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
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1990R. Zapperi, Tizian Paul IIII. und seine Enkel: Nepotismus und Staatsportrait, Frankfurt am Main 1990
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1992L. Mortari, Francesco Salviati, Rome 1992
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1994P. Costamagna, Pontormo, Milan 1994
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1994D. Freedberg, 'Van Dyck and Virginio Cesarini: A Contribution to the Study of van Dyck's Roman Sojourns', Studies in the History of Art, XLVI, 1994, pp. 152-74
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2010A. Donati, Ritratto e figura nel manierismo a Roma: Michelangelo Buonarrotti, Jacopino del Conte, Daniele Ricciarelli, San Marino 2010
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.