Carefully groomed and clad in black, the arresting young man in this painting was likely a member of one of the noble or humanistic families who patronized Jacometto. His distinctive hairstyle—a zazzera—was fashionable in Venice in the 1480s and 90s. Jacometto’s known works are almost all portraits, including his miniatures, for which he was famous. His body of work remained largely unidentified well into the twentieth century. Some paintings, including this one, had been mistakenly attributed to the Sicilian painter Antonello da Messina, who traveled to Venice in 1475–76 and had a profound influence on Jacometto’s style.
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Fig. 1. Painting in frame: overall
Fig. 2. Painting in frame: corner
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Fig. 3. Painting in frame: angled corner
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Fig. 4. Profile drawing of frame. W 4 5/8 in. 11.8 cm (T. Newbery)
Artwork Details
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Title:Portrait of a Young Man
Artist:Jacometto (Jacometto Veneziano) (Italian, active Venice by ca. 1472–died before 1498)
Date:1480s
Medium:Oil on wood
Dimensions:11 x 8 1/4 in. (27.9 x 21 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:The Jules Bache Collection, 1949
Object Number:49.7.3
baron Arthur de Schickler, Martinvast, France (by 1908–d. 1919); his daughter, comtesse Hubert de Pourtalès, Martinvast (1919; sold to Duveen); [Duveen, Paris, and Wildenstein, Paris, 1919, as by Alvise Vivarini; sold to Salomon]; William Salomon, New York (d. 1919); Mrs. William Salomon, New York (1919–22); [Duveen, New York, 1922–28, as by Giovanni Bellini; on approval to Andrew W. Mellon, Washington, D.C., 1923–24; sold for $180,000 to Bache]; Jules S. Bache, New York (1928–d. 1944; his estate, 1944–49; cats., 1929, unnumbered; 1937, no. 3; 1943, no. 3, all as by Giovanni Bellini)
New York. Duveen. "Early Italian Paintings," April 17–May 3, 1924, no. 42 (as by Giovanni Bellini).
Paris. Petit Palais. "Exposition de l'art italien de Cimabue à Tiepolo," 1935, no. 42 (as by Giovanni Bellini, lent by Jules S. Bache).
New York. M. Knoedler & Co. "Fifteenth Century Portraits," April 15–27, 1935, no. 7 (as by Giovanni Bellini, lent by Jules S. Bache).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Bache Collection," June 16–September 30, 1943, no. 3 (as by Giovanni Bellini).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Venetian Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum," May 1–September 2, 1974, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 22, 1998–February 21, 1999, not in catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Antonello da Messina: Sicily's Renaissance Master," December 13, 2005–March 5, 2006, no cat. number.
Bode Museum, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin. "Gesichter der Renaissance: Meisterwerke italienischer Portrait-Kunst," August 25–November 20, 2011, no. 151.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini," December 21, 2011–March 18, 2012, no. 151.
Lionello Venturi. "Studii Antonelliani." L'arte 11 (1908), pp. 449–50, fig. 4, as in the Schickler collection, Paris, where it is attributed to Antonello; himself assigns it to Alvise Vivarini, relating it to a portrait of a boy (Salting Bequest, National Gallery, London) that he also gives to Alvise.
Bernhard Berenson. "La 'Sainte Justine' de la collection Bagatti-Valsecchi à Milan." Gazette des beaux-arts, 4th ser., 9 (June 1913), p. 477, ill. p. 476 [reprinted in English in "The Study and Criticism of Italian Art," vol. 3, London, 1916, p. 59, ill. opp. p. 59], as in the Schickler collection; concurs with Venturi's [see Ref. 1908] attribution to Alvise Vivarini.
Adolfo Venturi. "La pittura del Quattrocento." Storia dell'arte italiana. Vol. 7, part 4, Milan, 1915, pp. 422, 424, 426, fig. 252, as in the Schickler collection; attributes it to Alvise Vivarini and compares it with the Salting portrait which he dates 1488; notes the combined influence of Antonello and Giovanni Bellini.
Salomon Reinach. Répertoire de peintures du moyen age et de la renaissance (1280–1580). Vol. 4, Paris, 1918, p. 24, no. 3, ill. (engraving), as in the Schickler collection; as by A. Vivarini.
Arsène Alexandre. "En feuilletant des primitifs." La renaissance des arts français 6 (July 1923), p. 402, ill. p. 401, thinks it is more likely to be by Antonello than by Giovanni Bellini.
Richard Offner. "A Remarkable Exhibition of Italian Paintings." Arts 5 (May 1924), p. 264, ill. p. 263, as in the collection of Andrew W. Mellon; as Attributed to Giovanni Bellini.
B[ernard]. Berenson. "Nove pitture in cerca di un'attribuzione." Dedalo 5 (1925), p. 768 [reprinted in "Three Essays in Method," Oxford, 1927, p. 65], notes that he has changed his attribution from Alvise Vivarini to Giovanni Bellini.
W. R. Valentiner. A Catalogue of Early Italian Paintings Exhibited at the Duveen Galleries New York: April to May, 1924. New York, 1926, unpaginated, no. 42, ill., attributes it to Giovanni Bellini.
C. H. Collins Baker. "Alvise Vivarini in the National Gallery." Burlington Magazine 50 (January 1927), pp. 24, 27, pl. II, B, relates it to the Salting portrait, rejecting the attribution to Alvise Vivarini for both and suggesting instead an attribution to an unknown painter influenced by both Antonello and Giovanni Bellini.
Detlev von Hadeln. "Two Portraits by Giovanni Bellini." Burlington Magazine 51 (July 1927), pp. 4, 7 n. 8, attributes it to Giovanni Bellini.
Bernard Berenson. Letter to Edward Fowles. July 23, 1928, confirms his attribution to Giovanni Bellini.
Walter Heil. "The Jules Bache Collection." Art News 27 (April 27, 1929), p. 3, ill. p. 25, as by Giovanni Bellini, in the style of his middle period.
A Catalogue of Paintings in the Collection of Jules S. Bache. New York, 1929, unpaginated, ill., as by Giovanni Bellini.
Walter Heil. "The Jules Bache Collection." Art News 27 (April 27, 1929), p. 3, ill. p. 25, as the "most splendid" painting by Bellini in Bache's collection; ascribes it to Bellini's middle period.
"The House of Mr. Jules Bache in New York." Vogue 73 (June 8, 1929), p. 73, ill. (Bache townhouse foyer).
Georg Gronau. Giovanni Bellini: Des Meisters Gemälde. Stuttgart, 1930, pp. XXII, 205, 222, ill. p. 70, attributes it to Giovanni Bellini.
August L. Mayer. "Die Sammlung Jules Bache in New-York." Pantheon 6 (December 1930), pp. 541–42, as by Giovanni Bellini.
H. E. Wortham. "The Bache Collection." Apollo 11 (May 1930), p. 354, fig. II, as by Giovanni Bellini.
Royal Cortissoz. "The Jules S. Bache Collection." American Magazine of Art 21 (May 1930), p. 249, as by Giovanni Bellini.
Lionello Venturi. Pitture italiane in America. Milan, 1931, unpaginated, pl. CCLXXXV, attributes it to Antonello da Messina.
Bernhard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932, p. 71.
Lionello Venturi. Italian Paintings in America. Vol. 2, Fifteenth Century Renaissance. New York, 1933, unpaginated, pl. 380.
Luitpold Dussler. Giovanni Bellini. Frankfurt, 1935, pp. 99, 142–43, catalogues it among works attributed to Bellini; notes the close connection to the Salting portrait, which he thinks may be slightly later, and also relates it to a drawing of the head of a man in the Städelsches Kunstinstitute, Frankfurt.
Raimond van Marle. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. Vol. 17, The Renaissance Painters of Venice. The Hague, 1935, pp. 234–35, fig. 132, attributes it to Giovanni Bellini.
Mary Morsell. "Loan Display at Knoedler Galleries." Art News 33 (April 20, 1935), pp. 3, 6, ill.
Bernhard Berenson. Pitture italiane del rinascimento. Milan, 1936, p. 62.
Carlo Gamba. Giovanni Bellini. Milan, 1937, p. 84, fig. 76, attributes it to Giovanni Bellini.
A Catalogue of Paintings in the Bache Collection. under revision. New York, 1937, unpaginated, no. 3, ill., as by Giovanni Bellini.
"Bache Donates His Art to Public for a Museum: Home at 814 Fifth Ave. to House $20,000,000 Collection; Donor Sails Before Gift Is Revealed." New York Herald Tribune (April 29, 1937), pp. 1, 13, as by Bellini.
"Bache Art Goes on View Today in His Home Just as He Hung It." New York Herald Tribune (November 16, 1937), ill. p. 3 (installation shot, Bache townhouse second floor entrance hall), as by Giovanni Bellini.
Royal Cortissoz. "The Great Masters in the Bache Collection." New York Herald Tribune (November 21, 1937), p. E9, as by Giovanni Bellini; notes that it "recalls the simple note of primitivism".
Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941, unpaginated, no. 81, ill., attributes it to Giovanni Bellini and dates it about 1475.
Vittorio Moschini. Giambellino. Bergamo, 1943, p. 23, pl. 83, attributes it to Giovanni Bellini and notes the influence of Antonello.
Harry B. Wehle. "The Bache Collection on Loan." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 1 (June 1943), pp. 285–86.
Walter Heil. "The Bache Paintings at the Metropolitan." Art News 42 (June–July 1943), p. 15, as by Giovanni Bellini, in the style of his middle period.
A Catalogue of Paintings in the Bache Collection. rev. ed. New York, 1943, unpaginated, no. 3, ill., as by Giovanni Bellini.
Philip Hendy and Ludwig Goldscheider. Giovanni Bellini. Oxford, 1945, p. 27, pl. 39, attribute it to Giovanni Bellini.
Millia Davenport. The Book of Costume. New York, 1948, vol. 1, p. 254, no. 713, ill. (cropped).
Luitpold Dussler. Giovanni Bellini. Vienna, 1949, p. 98, pl. 126.
"Title to Bache Art Collection Passes to Metropolitan Museum: Some of World's Best-Known Masterpieces Hang in Group Shown as a Loan Since 1944." New York Herald Tribune (April 25, 1949), p. 3, as by Giovanni Bellini.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 8.
Bernard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Venetian School. London, 1957, vol. 1, p. 32.
Fritz Heinemann. Giovanni Bellini e i Belliniani. Venice, [1962], vol. 1, p. 245, no. V.179; vol. 2, fig. 859, attributes it to Lorenzo Lotto.
Giles Robertson. Giovanni Bellini. Oxford, 1968, p. 107, rejects the attribution to Giovanni Bellini.
Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972, pp. 100, 523, 608.
Federico Zeri with the assistance of Elizabeth E. Gardner. Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Venetian School. New York, 1973, pp. 35–36, pl. 38, attribute it to Jacometto.
Colin Simpson. Artful Partners: Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen. New York, 1986, pp. 184, 292 [British ed., "The Partnership: The Secret Association of Bernard Berenson and Joseph Duveen," London, 1987].
Denys Sutton. "Review of Simpson 1986." Burlington Magazine 129 (December 1987), p. 816.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 74, ill.
Peter Humfrey inThe Dictionary of Art. Ed. Jane Turner. Vol. 16, New York, 1996, p. 835, calls the attribution to Jacometto convincing.
David Alan Brown inVirtue and Beauty: Leonardo's "Ginevra de' Benci" and Renaissance Portraits of Women. Ed. David Alan Brown. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2001, p. 158, under no. 20.
Meryle Secrest. Duveen: A Life in Art. New York, 2004, pp. 411, 452, lists it as two separate paintings.
Mauro Lucco inAntonello da Messina: l'opera completa. Ed. Mauro Lucco. Exh. cat., Scuderie del Quirinale, Rome. Cinisello Balsamo (Milan), 2006, pp. 290–91, 322, 334, dates it to the 1480s; discusses other works with the same hair style.
Andrea Bayer inThe Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini. Ed. Keith Christiansen and Stefan Weppelmann. Exh. cat., Bode-Museum, Berlin. New York, 2011, pp. 344–45, no. 151, ill. (color) [German ed., "Gesichter der Renaissance: Meisterwerke italienischer Portrait-Kunst," Berlin], dates it to the late 1480s or 1490s.
Peter Humfrey inThe Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini. Ed. Keith Christiansen and Stefan Weppelmann. Exh. cat., Bode-Museum, Berlin. New York, 2011, p. 51 [German ed., "Gesichter der Renaissance: Meisterwerke italienischer Portrait-Kunst," Berlin].
Sara Menato. Per la giovinezza di Carpaccio. Padua, 2016, p. 18 n. 15.
Anne Hilker. "The Art of Rivalry: The Jules S. Bache Collection, Its Formation, and Its Donation to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1919–44." Journal of the History of Collections (2024), pp. 322, 334 n. 52, figs. 3, 5–6 (Bache townhouse foyer, collection study chart, and souvenir catalogue).
The frame is from Tuscany and dates to about 1590 (see figs. 1–4 above). This poplar cassetta or box frame has a wide frieze which is constructed with corner joints which are mitred on their face and lap joined on their verso. The water-gilded sight edge molding is mitred and secured with nails. The frieze is painted black over burnished water gilding and has bold sgraffito caliculi decoration scratched through the paint which spans the corners and centers. The revealed gilding is worn to its terra-cotta colored bole ground. A worn gilded mitre joined top edge molding, also secured with nails, forms the perimeter. The black painted slip liner was added when the frame was put on the painting in the 1990s.
Timothy Newbery with Cynthia Moyer 2016; further information on this frame can be found in the Department of European Paintings files
This picture is usually discussed in the literature in connection with a portrait of a young boy (Salting Bequest, National Gallery, London), now also attributed to Jacometto. These two works are ascribed to the artist on the basis of comparison with two small portraits (Robert Lehman Collection, The Met) mentioned as his work by a writer in the early sixteenth century.
Jacometto (Jacometto Veneziano) (Italian, active Venice by ca. 1472–died before 1498)
ca. 1475-80
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