Portrait of a Man

The sitter wears the four-cornered hat (berreto) and blue-gray robe suggestive of a prelate or scholar. In his right hand he holds either a small book of Petrarch’s poetry (a Petrarchino) or a prayer book. Attributed to Sarto in the early twentieth century, the picture was, instead, tentatively ascribed by Freedberg (1963) to Santi di Tito (1536–1603)—an artist who, in his reform of Florentine painting, looked back to Sarto—and by Shearman (1965) to Francesco Salviati, who was Sarto’s pupil. Upon its gift to The Met, the picture was cleaned, and on that occasion Freedberg (1983) reconsidered his attribution, viewing it as a late work by Sarto. On this basis, Christiansen (1984) suggested the possibility that it might be associated with a portrait described in Vasari’s biography of the artist as depicting a canon of Pisa with whom Sarto had a close relationship: “Ritrasse similmente un canonico pisano suo amicissimo, et il ritratto, che è naturale e molto bello, è anco in Pisa” (he similarly portrayed his dear friend, a Pisan canon, and the picture, which is natural-seeming and very beautiful, is still to be seen in Pisa) [1]. The narrative suggests that this was a late work. This identification has been taken up by subsequent scholars, except Costamagna.

It remains unknown what role—if any—this Pisan canon may have played in the commission to Sarto for the altarpiece of Saint Agnes for the Pisa Cathedral, which was also a late work. Datable to 1528–29, the portrait would have been painted during the period when Florence had reaffirmed its status as a republic against Medicean rule (the Medici were expulsed following the Sack of Rome in 1527, but were reinstated in 1532, following a brutal, eleven-month siege of the city). Sarto was not a prolific portraitist, and his approach to the genre was closely associated with his painting of altarpieces. He not only drew from models in his search for active poses for altarpieces, but he carefully recorded the faces of those who posed for him. He sometimes introduced these faces into the finished painting, thereby enhancing the impact on the viewer by breaking down the inherent tendency toward abstraction that is part of an idealizing style. The sitter’s pose in The Met's portrait is related to standing saints in Sarto’s altarpieces who look over their shoulders at the viewer—for example, the figure of Saint Francis in his destroyed altarpiece for Sarzana (formerly Berlin). In the portrait, any effect of artifice in the pose has been reduced to a minimum, with a result that Vasari rightly characterized as both "natural-seeming" and "beautiful." It is at once a prelude to and contrast with the more tightly constructed portraits of Bronzino’s (see, for example 29.100.16), in which artifice and expressive reticence trump an effect of naturalness.

Keith Christiansen 2020

[1] Le vite de' più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori, Florence, 1568, ed. Bettarini and Barocchi, Florence 1976, vol. 4, p. 387.

[D. Costantini?, Florence, in 1905]; [Gimpel & Wildenstein, New York, by 1911–at least 1915]; Mrs. Morton F. Plant, later Mrs. William Hayward, later Mrs. John E. Rovensky, New York (by 1932–d. 1956; her estate sale, Parke-Bernet, New York, January 16, 1957, no. 454, as by Andrea del Sarto, to Linsky); Jack and Belle Linsky, New York (1957–his d. 1980); The Jack and Belle Linsky Foundation, New York (1980–82)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Medici: Portraits and Politics, 1512–1570," June 26–October 11, 2021, no. 5.

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT, BY TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION BY THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART.

"Seen in the World of Art." The Sun (February 5, 1911), unpaginated, calls it the "clou" of the current exhibition at Gimpel & Wildenstein; quotes from a letter from Bernard Berenson congratulating the dealers on their acquisition of the work, dating it about 1520 and comparing it to the portrait of a sculptor at the National Gallery, London ("Portrait of a Young Man," NG690).

Harriet Monroe. "Exhibit of Thirty Old Masters." Chicago Sunday Tribune (January 11, 1914), p. 56, among a group of old master paintings exhibited by Gimpel and Wildenstein at O'Brien's gallery in Chicago, discusses it admiringly, calling the sitter a "young scholar or poet".

F. Mason Perkins. "Miscellanea." Rassegna d'arte 15 (1915), p. 122, ill., attributes this painting to Andrea del Sarto; lists it as part of the Wildenstein collection in New York and states that he saw it in a private home in Florence in 1905; notes similarities with Andrea's portrait of a sculptor in the National Gallery, London.

Bernhard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932, p. 19, as by Andrea del Sarto, in the collection Mrs. William Hayward, New York.

Bernhard Berenson. Pitture italiane del rinascimento. Milan, 1936, p. 16.

"Coming Auctions." Art News 55 (January 1957), p. 18, ill., mentions the portrait as by Andrea del Sarto and as part of the Rovensky sale at Parke-Bernet.

Bernard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School. London, 1963, vol. 1, p. 10, as by the studio of Andrea del Sarto.

S[ydney]. J. Freedberg. Andrea del Sarto. Cambridge, Mass., 1963, catalogue raisonné vol., p. 229, fig. 169, lists it under attributed paintings; notes its closeness to the work of Santo di Tito and suggests him as a possible author; dates it to the later sixteenth century; states that it was formerly in the Costantini collection.

John Shearman. Andrea del Sarto. Oxford, 1965, vol. 1, p. 105 n. 2, p. 169, as "Portrait of a Scholar"; attributes it to Francesco Salviati and calls it one of his early works, about 1532, to be compared to his Saint Anthony on an altarpiece formerly in Berlin; notes the influence of Sarto in its type and style.

Sydney J. Freedberg. Letter to Katharine Baetjer. May 27, 1983, states that on seeing the painting during restoration he was convinced that it is an autograph work by Andrea of about 1528–30.

Keith Christiansen in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1983–1984. New York, 1984, p. 48, ill., attributes the portrait to Sarto; notes that the simple attire suggests a scholarly or ecclesiastical position for the sitter; suggests that it may be a portrait desribed by Vasari in the Life of Andrea del Sarto as of "a Pisan canon, a very close friend, and the portrait is natural and very beautiful"; suggests a date of 1528–30.

Keith Christiansen in The Jack and Belle Linsky Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1984, pp. 38–40, no. 9, ill., suggests that the sitter is a scholar; points out that the figure is less sharply described and the silhouette simpler than other late portraits by Andrea, but on balance accepts that it is by his hand.

Philippe Costamagna. Letter to Keith Christiansen. May 16, 1984, states that he and Anne Fabre attribute the painting to Jacopino del Conte around 1535–37, and that they have shared this view with Federico Zeri who heard it with enthusiasm.

Alessandro Cecchi in Andrea del Sarto, 1486–1530: dipinti e disegni a Firenze. Exh. cat., Palazzo Pitti, Florence. Milan, 1986, pp. 43, 55 n. 17, identifies the sitter of the portrait as a Pisan canon who helped Andrea secure the commission of the altarpiece in Sant'Agnese in Pisa.

Alessandro [Cecchi]. Letter to Keith Christiansen. February 1, 1987, accepts the attribution to Andrea and dates the painting about 1529; states that his presentation of this identification at a conference was accepted by both J. Shearman and F. Zeri.

Alessandro Cecchi in Andrea del Sarto: catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence, 1989, p. 134, no. 66, ill. (color), speculates that the portrait may have been done to thank the canon for his assistance in securing Andrea commissions in Pisa.

Alessandro Cecchi. "Spigolature sulla Committenza Sartesca." Paragone 40 (November 1989), pp. 37–39, 40–41 nn. 30–31, pl. 30, is convinced of the attribution to Andrea del Sarto, probably around 1529; believes that it is the portrait described by Vasari and previously considered lost; states that the costume and hat are definitely ecclesiastic and that the sitter probably holds a book of hours; notes that this canon may have been instrumental for Andrea's late commissions in Pisa.

Philippe Costamagna and Anne Fabre. "Di alcuni problemi della bottega di Andrea del Sarto." Paragone 42 (January 1991), pp. 24–25, pl. 35, attribute the painting to Jacopino del Conte, comparing it to a portrait in the Johnson Collection, Philadelphia, and dating it 1535–38.

Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 34, ill.

Antonio Natali. Andrea del Sarto: Maestro della "maniera moderna". Milan, 1998, pp. 179, 205 n. 146, fig. 197 (color).

Michela Corso. "Jacopino del Conte nel contesto artistico romano tra gli anni trenta e gli anni cinquanta del Cinquecento." PhD diss., Università degli Studi Roma Tre, [2014], p. 164 n. 11.

Elizabeth Cropper in Pontormo e Rosso Fiorentino: Divergenti vie della "maniera". Ed. Carlo Falciani and Antonio Natali. Exh. cat., Palazzo Strozzi. Florence, 2014, pp. 121, 125 n. 12, fig. 41 (color), calls it probably Andrea del Sarto's final portrait, and extremely close to the early Pontormo.

Diana J. Kostyrko. The Journal of a Transatlantic Art Dealer: René Gimpel 1918–1939. London, 2017, pp. 328–29, records the "date of entry/transaction" by Gimpel & Wildenstein as January 28, 1911.

Keith Christiansen in The Medici: Portraits and Politics, 1512–1570. Ed. Keith Christiansen and Carlo Falciani. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2021, pp. 92–94, 96, no. 5, ill. (color), calls it "a friendship portrait".

Carlo Falciani in The Medici: Portraits and Politics, 1512–1570. Ed. Keith Christiansen and Carlo Falciani. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2021, pp. 81–82.

Giovanni Mazzaferro. "Le postille a un'edizione Torrentiniana delle 'Vite' di Vasari a Napoli e un possibile nome per un ritratto di Andrea del Sarto." Letturatura artistica (May 25, 2025), ill. (color) [https://letteraturaartistica.blogspot.com/2025/05/postille-vasari-napoli.html], identifies the Pisan canon that Vasari describes in the Life of Andrea del Sarto as Francesco Sanseverino Murci, possibly the sitter for this portrait.

The frame is from the Piedmontese region and dates to about 1640 (see figs. 1–4 above). This provincial reverse profile carved giltwood cassetta frame is made of pine and secured with miter faced half lap joints. The surface has been washed of its gilding to reveal a reddish-brown bole on a white gesso ground. The small cavetto at the sight edge rises to a top edge comprised of laurel leaves emerging from centers. The abraded frieze is missing both its water gilding and the raised pastiglia decoration in the form of cauliculi in its corners and centers. The back edge is carved in a course of twisted ribbon emanating from centers followed by acanthus leaf carving. Though the surface is compromised the frame has not been resized.

Timothy Newbery with Cynthia Moyer 2020; further information on this frame can be found in the Department of European Paintings files

The surface texture has been altered by an old transfer from the original wood support, and the green background is thin and riddled with losses. By contrast, cleaning in 1983 has revealed the figure to be in generally good condition, though somewhat less sharply defined than was intended. The shaded areas (especially on the nose and hat) are thin, and there are scattered small losses, the most important of which is on the chin.

This work may not be lent, by terms of its acquisition by The Metropolitan Museum of Art.