Portrait of a Youth
Sandro Botticelli·c. 1482/1485
Historical Context
Portrait of a Youth by Botticelli, painted around 1482-85, captures a young Florentine man in the distinctive red cap (cappuccio) fashionable in late Quattrocento Florence. Botticelli's portraits are rarer than his mythological and religious works but demonstrate equal mastery of line and characterization. The painting's three-quarter view and dark background follow the portrait conventions established by Flemish painters and adopted by Florentine artists.
Technical Analysis
Botticelli's tempera technique on poplar panel achieves remarkably refined modeling of the youthful features. The characteristic flowing, calligraphic line that defines his mythological works is equally present in the precise contours of the face and cap. The palette is restrained but warm, with the red cap providing the primary color accent against the dark background.
Provenance
James-Alexandre, comte de Pourtalès-Gorgier [1776-1855], Paris, by 1841;[1] (Pourtalès-Gorgier sale, Paris, 27 March-4 April 1865, 1st day, no. 87, as by Masaccio [sale began February 6; sale of paintings began March 27]); Henri-Joseph-François, baron de Triqueti [1804-1874], Paris;[2] by inheritance to his daughter, Mme Lee-Childe, baronne de Triqueti, Paris; (Triqueti sale, Paris, 4 May 1886, no. 4). ("a Paris expert's junk shop").[3] Baron Arthur de Schickler [1828-1919], Paris, and Martinvast, Normandy (near Cherbourg); by inheritance to his daughter, Marguerite, Comtesse Hubert de Pourtalès [1870-1956], Paris, and Martinvast, Normandy; sold June 1920 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, and New York) in part-share agreement with (Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York) and (Arnold Seligmann & Co., Paris);[4] on approval to Carl W. Hamilton [1886-1967], New York, by 1920, and returned 1921;[5] Clarence H. Mackay [1874-1938], Roslyn, New York, by 1924 until at least the mid-1930s;[6] (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); purchased 15 December 1936 by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[7] gift 1937 to NGA. [1] See Léon-Jean-Joseph Dubois, _Descriptions des tableaux faisant partie des collections de M. le Comte de Pourtalés-Gorgier_, Paris, 1841: 4, no. 4. [2] The painting was described as being in the Triqueti collection by Joseph Archer Crowe and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle, _A New History of Painting in Italy, from the II to the XVI Century_, German ed. trans. Max Jordan, 6 vols. in 8 parts, Leipzig, 1870: 3:178. An annotated copy of the 1865 Pourtalès-Gorgier sale catalogue in the NGA Library indicates the buyer was Triqueti. [3] According to Bernard Berenson, "A Botticelli Portrait in the Collection of Mr. Carl W. Hamilton," _Art in America_ 10, no. 1 (December 1921): 29, who stated that he had seen the painting there "twelve or more years" earlier. [4] The Baron's daughter, who married Comte Hubert de Pourtalès in 1890, was her father's sole heir. Edward Fowles (_Memories of Duveen Brothers_, London, 1976: 102-103, 134) discusses the original purchase agreement with Wildenstein and Seligmann for some of the works in the Schickler collection, and the subsequent agreement in 1922 that divided the works among the three dealers. Although Fowles indicates the sale took place in April 1919, the list of expenses for the painting in the Duveen Brothers Records show the purchase was made the next year (copy in NGA curatorial files; X Book, Reel 422 [see also Reel 45, Box 133, folder 1], Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles). [5] According to Fowles 1976: 127-129, a large collection of Italian paintings was offered on approval to Hamilton by 1920, but he did not purchase them and returned them to Duveen the following year. [6] In the 1924 New York exhibition the painting was already exhibited as part of the Mackay collection. In 1930, as a consequence of the Depression, Mackay closed his mansion at Roslyn and began to sell his works of art with the assistance of Duveen Brothers (see Fowles 1976: 157). As Bernard Berenson, _Italian Pictures of the Renaissance_, Italian ed., trans. Emilio Cecchi, Milan, 1936: 90, still lists the picture as being in Roslyn, Duveen Brothers must not have acquired it by that year. [7] The original Duveen Brothers in invoice is in Gallery Archives, copy in NGA curatorial files.
