Workshop of Robert Campin, 'Portrait of a Franciscan (?)', before 1432

Portrait of a Franciscan (?)

Workshop of Robert Campin

Not on display

About the work

Overview

We don’t know who the sitter in this almost postcard-sized portrait is. Although he wears the grey habit of a Franciscan, his hair is not tonsured – shaved on top as a sign of humility – as was customary for them. The precise identity of the artist is also uncertain, although he seems to have been a member of Robert Campin’s workshop.

Frame and support are carved from a single piece of oak, from the same tree as The Virgin and Child in an Interior, also by Campin’s workshop (though these were not painted by the same artist). This is possibly one of the earliest surviving portraits where the sitter rests his fingers on the frame, which would become a conventional pose in Netherlandish painting.

In-depth

This tiny, almost postcard-sized portrait measures only 22.7 by 15.3 cm, including the frame. We do not know who the sitter is, and although he is wearing the grey habit of a Franciscan his hair is not tonsured – shaved on top as a sign of humility – as was customary for friars. He holds a scroll on which no trace of writing is visible. The precise identity of the artist is also uncertain, although he seems to have been a member of Robert Campin’s workshop.

The sitter’s face is strongly lit, and stands out powerfully against the dark blue background. His blue eyes gaze into the distance, and his features are slightly misaligned: his eyes don't look in the same direction, and his mouth is asymmetrical. The style of the face resembles that of the female donor in the Merode Triptych (The Met Cloisters, New York), as does the profile thumb. There’s a lack of interest in linear pattern, which is characteristic of the pictures associated with Campin himself, such as A Man and A Woman. Infrared reflectography has shown that the artist made various changes during the course of painting the picture. The sitter once held a book, his index finger apparently tucked into its pages – this was later changed to a scroll.

The gilding is not original, and technical analysis suggests that the frame and possibly the reverse were possibly originally decorated with pinkish marbling. The frame and support are carved out of one piece of wood, Baltic oak, from the same tree as The Virgin and Child in an Interior. Although both paintings are Campinesque in style, they do not appear to be by the same painter, and there are no traces of any hinges to indicate they were part of the same complex. The framed supports must have been made at the same time by the same panel-maker; presumably they were supplied to the same painter’s workshop but then, within that workshop, assigned to two different artists.

If the Virgin in an Interior was painted by Jacques Daret when he was working as Campin’s assistant, and if this painting is by one of his colleagues in Campin’s workshop, possibly the painter of the Merode donors, then both pictures could be dated before 1432, when Daret left the workshop. If this dating is correct, this is one of the earliest surviving portraits where the sitter rests his fingers on the frame, which would become a conventional pose in Netherlandish painting.

Key facts

Details

Full title: Portrait of a Franciscan (?)
Artist: Workshop of Robert Campin
Artist dates: 1378/9 - 1444
Date made: before 1432
Medium and support: oil on wood
Dimensions: 18.7 × 11.7 cm
Acquisition credit: Bought, 1966
Inventory number: NG6377
Location: Not on display
Collection: Main Collection
Frame: 15th-century Netherlandish Frame (original frame)

Provenance

The portrait belonged to the London dealer Arthur Leonard Nicholson (1872–1955), who retired to Highcliffe in Hampshire. Sold at Bonham’s on 19 August 1965 (no. 186), it was purchased from Agnew’s in 1966 out of the Grant-in-Aid and the Colnaghi Fund.

Additional information

This painting is included in a list of works with incomplete provenance from 1933–1945; for more information see Whereabouts of paintings 1933–1945.

Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Lorne Campbell, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Schools’, London 1998; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.

Bibliography

1965

Bonhams, Sale Catalogue, London, 19 August 1965
1966

M. Davies, 'A Portrait by Campin', The Burlington Magazine, CVIII/765, 1966, pp. 622-3
1967

The National Gallery, The National Gallery: January 1965 - December 1966, London 1967
1967

G. Agnew, Agnew's, 1817-1967, London 1967
1967

M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, eds N. Veronée-Verhaegen and H. Pauwels, trans. H. Norden, 14 vols, Leiden 1967
1970

M. Davies, The National Gallery, London, Les Primitifs flamands. I, Corpus de la peinture des anciens Pay-Bas méridionaux au quinzième siècle 11, Brussels 1970
1987

Davies, Martin, National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Netherlandish School, 3rd edn, London 1987
1988

A. Smith and M. Wyld, 'Robert Campin's "Virgin and Child in an Interior"', The Burlington Magazine, CXXX, 1988, pp. 570-1
1990

L. Campbell, Renaissance Portraits: European Portrait-Painting in the 14th, 15th and 16th Centuries, New Haven 1990
1991

J. Dunkerton et al., Giotto to Dürer: Early Renaissance Painting in the National Gallery, New Haven 1991
1991

P. Joannides, 'Masaccio's Brancacci Chapel: Restoration and Revelation', Apollo, CXXXIII, 1991, pp. 26-32
1993

P. Joannides, Masaccio and Masolino: A Complete Catalogue, London 1993
1993

National Gallery, Robert Campin (exh. cat. The National Gallery, 20 January - 28 March 1993), London 1993
1996

L.Campbell, 'Campin's Portraits', in S. Foister and S. Nash (eds), Robert Campin, New Directions in Scholarship, Turnhout 1996
1997

S. Kemperdick, Der Meister von Flémalle: Die Werkstatt Robert Campins und Rogier van der Weyden, Turnhout 1997
1998

Campbell, Lorne, National Gallery Catalogues: The Fifteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings, London 1998
1999

D. de Vos, Rogier van der Weyden: The Complete Works, Antwerp 1999
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.

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Workshop of Robert Campin, 'Portrait of a Franciscan (?)', before 1432

About the work

Overview

In-depth

Key facts

Details

Provenance

Additional information

Questions: 1933–1945

Source

Bibliography

About this record

Images

Related works