The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Portrait of a Young Man

Portrait of a Young Man

c. 1530

follower of Dosso Dossi

(Italian, c. 1490-aft 1541)
Italy, 16th century
oil and gold on wood
Framed: 128.2 x 102.2 x 11.5 cm (50 1/2 x 40 1/4 x 4 1/2 in.); Unframed: 97.2 x 77.5 cm (38 1/4 x 30 1/2 in.)
Holden Collection 1916.803
Location: not on view

Description

Like other paintings from the Dossi workshop, this work conveys the sitter's social status and self-confidence. He holds a crumpled letter written in Italian. The words Asto, meaning "ship mast," and mare, meaning "sea," suggest that trade was a topic of this letter. References to anatomy and the word bella imply a discussion of the magnificence of human anatomy, an interest that spread rapidly during the Renaissance. The letter likewise communicates the young man's considerable education. This work was formerly called Portrait of Giuliano de Medici; however, the sitter's lack of resemblance to Giuliano caused art historians to discount this argument. Portrait of a Young Man was earlier attributed to Dosso's brother, Battista, before recently being considered a work by Dosso or a member of his workshop. As first suggested by Roberto Longhi, Portrait of a Young Man is now considered likely to be a work of an unidentified follower of Dossi from Friuli, Italy. The Friulian follower worked from 1510 until after 1530 and had connections to Dossi's hometown of Ferrara, accounting for this work's resemblance to Dossi's style. The dark outlines and large forms of the work are of a later style than Dossi's, suggesting that the artist was a follower rather than Dossi himself.
  • James Jackson Jarves, 1818-1888, sold to Mrs. Liberty E. Holden, 1884.
    Mrs. Liberty E. Holden, 1838-1932, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1916.
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 342; Mentioned: p. 343
    Rubinstein-Bloch, Stella. Catalogue of a Collection of Paintings, Etc. Presented by Mrs. Liberty E. Holden to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1917. Mentioned: p. 32, cat. no. 33; Reproduced: p. 62, No. 33 archive.org
    G. U. "The Holden Collection." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 2 (1917): 19-34. Mentioned: p. 20; reproduced: p. 35 www.jstor.org
  • Boston Foreign Art Exhibition, 1883-84, no. 29.
    "The Inaugural Exhibition of the CMA," no. 32.
    Art and Humanism in the Renaissance. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 23-February 25, 1962).
    The Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition: The Official Art Exhibit of the Great Lakes Exposition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 26-October 4, 1936).
    Twentieth Anniversary Exhibition of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1936, no. 109.
    Inaugural Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (co-organizer) (June 6-September 20, 1916).
    Metropolitan Museum of Art, October 1912.
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Young Man|url=false|author=Dosso Dossi|year=c. 1530|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1916.803