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Portrait of a Man

About the Item

Provenance: with Leo Blumenreich and Julius Böhler, Munich, 1924 Dr. Frederic Goldstein Oppenheimer (1881-1963), San Antonio, Texas; by whom given to: Abraham M. Adler, New York, until 1985; thence by descent to the present owners While old inscriptions on the verso of this panel propose its author to be Hans Holbein and the sitter Sir John More—a lawyer, judge, and the father of Sir Thomas More—this fine portrait has long been recognized to be by a Flemish hand. Max Friedländer gave the painting to Bernard van Orley (1487/1491 – 1541) in 1924, but did not include it in the volume dedicated to the artist in his Early Netherlandish Paintings. The painting differs considerably from our modern understanding of Bernard van Orley and his limited oeuvre, which includes only one signed and dated portrait. Our portrait is by an unknown hand working around the year 1520. It records a vogue in portrait style and in fashion that was current in that period in Flanders. The dress, particularly the hat and the fur coat, most closely resembles those found in the portraits of the period by Quinten Metsys (his name variously spelled Quinten and Metsys). His portrait in the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin (Fig. 1) provides an interesting comparison with the present work, highlighting similarities in the costume, hat, and pose, but also the differences in style and composition. This work was formerly in the collection of Dr. Frederic Goldstein Oppenheimer (1881–1963), whose collection of predominantly Flemish Renaissance paintings is now at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas.
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 11 in (27.94 cm)Width: 9 in (22.86 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Circle Of:
    Quentin Massys (1466 - 1530, Flemish)
  • Period:
  • Condition:
  • Gallery Location:
    New York, NY
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU1026198422
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