Portrait of a Dominican Friar
Artist/Maker
DatesMade: Made probably 17th century
Material / Technique
Dimensionsh x w: Mått 72 x 55 cm
Inventory numberNM 10
AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum (Martelli 1804)
Other titlesTitle (sv): Mansporträtt Title (en): Portrait of a Dominican Friar Previous: Portrait of a man
DescriptionCatalogue raisonné: Description in Italian Paintings: Three Centuries of Collecting, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 2015, cat.no. 1: FORMER INV. NOS.: 346 (M. 1796–97); 3 (F. 1798); 481 (M. 1804); KM 962. TECHNICAL NOTES: The support is a single piece of densely woven, plain-weave linen fabric. It has a red ground that covers the whole support. It has been lined with glue and mounted on a non-original stretcher. The pa int layers are abraded and overcleaned, and the impasto parts (brushstrokes) are flattened due to the lining process. There are several discoloured retouches. Documented restorations: 1835: Restored; 1920: Cleaned, dirt and yellowed varnish removed. Hole (tear) mended, varnish. PROVENANCE: Martelli 1804. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Röök 1841, p. 3; NM Cat. 1867, p. 1 (as Alessandro Allori); Sander 1872–76, III, p. 138, no. 481 (as Sebastiano del Piombo); NM Cat. 1990, p. 419 (as anonymous, 17th century); Prytz and Eriksson 2010, p. 82 (as unknown artist, 17th century). A friar dressed in a black cloak (cappa) over a white habit of the Dominican order is sitting with a crucifix in his right hand, against a dark background. The portrait is first documented in Fredenheim’s catalogue from 1798, which is based on Martelli’s original inventory, under the title “Agnole Bronzino, Portrait d’un Domenicain”, with the original inventory number 346.¹ As there is no painting of Bronzino in the catalogue from 1804, it seems probable that Corvi and Tofanelli had reattributed the portrait to Sebastiano del Piombo in the late 18th century.² In a list of missing paintings from 1810, Louis Masreliez mentions a Bronzino missing from the original catalogue and a portrait of Sebastiano del Piombo added to the collection.³ This is in all certainty the same painting, and it was subsequently given the Royal Museum number KM 962 in the 1816 catalogue. The painting was given the present number, NM 10, in 1861.⁴ In the 20th century the painting was attributed to an anonymous painter, and in the illustrated 1990 Nationalmuseum catalogue European paintings it was given the title Portrait of a Man. The dress at any rate points to the earlier and more precise title of Portrait of a Dominican Friar, and there is no reason to doubt that it is indeed such a portrait. The earlier attributions to Agnolo Bronzino and later to Sebastiano del Piombo are tempting. The portrait has some similarities to those of del Piombo, although it does not share the realism and presence of most of his portraits. The geometric, almost oval shape of the friar’s head and his relatively pale and cold features have more in common with the Mannerist style of Bronzino and his workshop.⁵ But as Bronzino mainly painted members of the Medici court, the Portrait of a Dominican Friar seems a bit odd and stands out from his oeuvre of princely portraits. But if we turn to Bronzino’s pupils, we find painters who portrayed less prominent individuals. One of them is Alessandro Allori. In a Self-Portrait, now in the Galleria degli Uffizi, some characteristics of the painting of the Dominican friar are found. Allori has portrayed himself against a very dark background, and the smooth and calm features of his face are contrasted with his more elaborate hands. These characteristics recur in other portraits by Allori, and an attribution to Bronzino’s foremost pupil or his circle is thus a more plausible hypothesis. 1 NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1, Catalogue du Cabinet de Martelli (à Rome). 2 Prytz and Eriksson 2010, pp. 82–83. 3 NM Archives, Kongl. Museum, F:1, Note des Tableaux arrivés d’Italie e NM 10 t Deposés au Museum, 1810. 4 Prytz and Eriksson 2010, p. 82. 5 For recent research on Bronzino and his workshop see: Pilliod 2001; Brock 2002; McCorquodale 2005; Falciani and Natali 2010, especially the link to his disciple Alessandro Allori, called the second Bronzino, pp. 323–334. [end]
Motif categoryPortrait
Collection
TechniquePainting
Object category
Keyword