This unidentified youth is a polished ideal of sixteenth-century Italian masculinity, displaying his status and virility through his gilded codpiece, sword, and finely tailored costume. Coolly steadying his greyhound, a favored breed among Italian nobility, the boy stands with confident nonchalance at the threshold of a doorway looking out onto an expansive landscape—once punctuated with a smalt blue sky that has turned gray with age. Veronese was widely recognized in his time as a portraitist of exceptional refinement and a famed painter of illusionistic frescoes. Here, he used his skills as an illusionist to create an uncanny sense that these figures are standing in the same space as the viewer.
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Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Object Number:29.100.105
The Artist: For a biography of Paolo Veronese, see the Catalogue Entry for Mars and Venus United by Love (10.189)
The Picture: The young sitter wears a tightly buttoned doublet with balloon-shaped trunk hose and matching codpiece, stockings of a contrasting color, and soft, flat shoes. The palette is restrained but elegant, as the painter harmonized the black and gold chevrons of one fabric with the black, gold, and white stripes of the other. The sitter wears a gold chain, and his sword is suspended from an elaborate belt. With his left hand, he reaches toward a greyhound. The life-size figure stands in an open doorway with a landscape in the distance. The painting may have been intended to be seen at eye level, a conceit Veronese had used in the famous frescoes that decorate the main rooms of the Villa Barbaro at Maser, in the Veneto region of northern Italy.
The earliest archival record of the picture is a photograph that dates only to the beginning of the twentieth century. It is inscribed on the reverse, “Brescia proprietà / Martinengo 1901” and “3981 BR,” which references the negative number of a photograph made for the Florentine dealer Stefano Bardini. In the photograph, the portrait is framed with a simple molding and stands on a tile floor leaning against a wall and a folding chair, with a shuttered window behind. The inscription is supported by the testimony of Louisine Havemeyer, who bought the picture from Bardini with her husband and bequeathed it to the museum. She recalled that they had already seen it when, accompanied by an agent, they had visited a derelict villa outside Brescia that they were told belonged to the Martinengo family. A connection with a famous local soldier for hire, Bartolomeo Colleoni, was also alleged; he had married Tisbe Martinengo in 1439, and the couple’s three daughters all wed their mother’s relatives. These details are otherwise unsubstantiated and may have been devised to inspire greater interest on the part of the clients.
Katharine Baetjer 2019
Martinengo family, Brescia (by 1901–about 1904; sold to Bardini); [Stefano Bardini, Florence, about 1904; sold through A. E. Harnisch to Havemeyer]; Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (about 1904–his d. 1907); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 105 [2nd ed., 1958, no. 185].
Milwaukee Auditorium. "Metropolitan Art Museum $1,000,000 Masterpiece Exhibition," March 7–14, 1953, unnumbered cat. (p. 7).
Austin, Tex. City Coliseum. "Texas Fine Arts Festival: Metropolitan Museum $1,000,000 Collection of Old Masters," April 18–26, 1953, unnum. checklist.
Osaka. Expo Museum of Fine Arts. "Discovery of Harmony," March 15–September 13, 1970, no. IV-196.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Venetian Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum," May 1–September 2, 1974, no catalogue.
Leningrad [St. Petersburg]. State Hermitage Museum. "100 Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum," May 22–July 27, 1975, no. 6.
Moscow. State Pushkin Museum. "100 Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum," August 28–November 2, 1975, no. 6.
Tulsa. Philbrook Art Center. "Gloria dell'arte: A Renaissance Perspective," October 28, 1979–January 27, 1980, no. 150.
Athens. National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. "From El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," December 13, 1992–April 11, 1993, no. 2.
Paris. Musée d'Orsay. "La collection Havemeyer: Quand l'Amérique découvrait l'impressionnisme...," October 20, 1997–January 18, 1998, no. 3.
Brisbane. Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. "European Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," June 12–October 17, 2021, unnumbered cat.
Osaka. Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts. "European Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," November 13, 2021–January 16, 2022, no. 16.
Tokyo. National Art Center. "European Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York," February 9–May 30, 2022, no. 16.
Detlev von Hadeln. "Some Portraits by Paolo Veronese." Art in America 15 (October 1927), pp. 251–52, attributes it to Veronese; publishes the bust portrait of the sitter (formerly J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu), calling it a study for this painting.
Giuseppe Fiocco. Paolo Veronese, 1528–1588. Bologna, 1928, p. 202, as in the collection of Henry Havemeyer, New York; tentatively identifies the sitter as a member of the Colleoni family; notes that he has not seen the picture.
Frank Jewett Mather Jr. "The Havemeyer Pictures." The Arts 16 (March 1930), pp. 457–58, ill. p. 479, calls it "perhaps the most superbly painted Veronese portrait in the world".
H. O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. n.p., 1931, pp. 10–11, ill., calls the sitter "probably a member of the Colleoni family".
Bernhard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932, p. 423.
Lionello Venturi. Italian Paintings in America. Vol. 3, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century. New York, 1933, unpaginated, pl. 569, dates it between 1560 and 1570; notes that it is very similar to Veronese's fresco of a hunter in the Villa Barbaro, Maser.
Lionello Venturi. "Contributi a Paolo Veronese." L'arte 36 (January 1933), p. 46.
Giuseppe Fiocco. Paolo Veronese. Rome, [1934], pp. 55, 127, pl. XCIXb, notes that it resembles a fresco by Veronese in the Villa Chiericati, Longa, near Vicenza.
Bernhard Berenson. Pitture italiane del rinascimento. Milan, 1936, p. 364.
Harry B. Wehle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings. New York, 1940, p. 206, ill.
Ellis K. Waterhouse. Reynolds. London, 1941, p. 10, calls it "Portrait of a Young Colleoni" and relates it to Reynolds's portrait of Lord Ludlow (Duke of Bedford, Woburn Abbey).
George Martin Richter. "An Unknown Portrait by Paolo Veronese." Art in America 30 (January 1942), p. 39 n. 1, dates it about 1560.
Edoardo Arslan. Letter. April 21, 1952, calls it a work of collaboration.
Luisa Vertova. Veronese. Milan, 1952, unpaginated, pl. 75, dates it about 1570.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 99.
Bernard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Venetian School. London, 1957, vol. 1, p. 134.
Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. New York, 1961, pp. 124–28, records the story of the purchase of this picture by her and her husband from a villa outside Brescia; states that Harnisch, through whom they acquired it, claimed that the sitter was a member of the Colleoni family.
Remigio Marini inL'opera completa del Veronese. Milan, 1968, p. 108, no. 111a, ill.
Calvin Tomkins. Merchants and Masterpieces: The Story of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1970, p. 208 [rev., enl. ed., 1989].
Burton B. Fredericksen. Catalogue of the Paintings in the J. Paul Getty Museum. [Malibu], 1972, pp. 36–37, under no. 37, calls it more similar to the fresco at the Villa Barbaro than to the one at the Villa Chiericati [see Refs. Venturi 1933 and Fiocco 1934]; notes that the fabric worn by the sitter is identical to that worn by Saint Barbara (whom he tentatively identifies as Saint Catherine) in versions of the Holy Family in the Uffizi, Florence, and the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972, pp. 39, 525, 607.
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, p. 87, pl. 98, attribute it to Veronese with some workshop assistance and tentatively date it to the 1570s; note that its appearance has been somewhat changed by old repainting; suggest that it may originally have been one of a series of portraits similar to that in the Villa Barbaro.
Terisio Pignatti. Veronese. Venice, 1976, vol. 1, pp. 122, 191, no. 109; vol. 2, fig. 347, considers it completely autograph and calls Zeri and Gardner's date of 1570 [sic, see Ref. 1973] acceptable only as an outside limit.
Detlev von Hadeln. Paolo Veronese. Ed. Gunter Schweikhart. Florence, 1978, pp. 104, 160, 220, no. 209, fig. 126.
Rodolfo Pallucchini. Veronese. Milan, 1984, p. 171, no. 56, ill., dates it about 1560–61.
Frances Weitzenhoffer. The Havemeyers: Impressionism Comes to America. New York, 1986, pp. 140, 256, pl. 102, states that the Havemeyers acquired it through their agent A. E. Harmisch [sic, for Harnisch].
W. R. Rearick. The Art of Paolo Veronese, 1528–1588. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1988, p. 118, under no. 61, relates it to "The Presentation of the Cuccina Family to the Virgin" (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemäldegalerie, Dresden) of 1571.
Jan Bialostocki. "I cani di Paolo Veronese." Nuovi studi su Paolo Veronese. Ed. Massimo Gemin. Venice, 1990, p. 226, fig. 181.
Terisio Pignatti and Filippo Pedrocco. Veronese: catalogo completo dei dipinti. Florence, 1991, p. 156, no. 64, ill., date it about 1560 and relate it to the frescoes at the Villa Barbaro.
Deborah Krohn et al. inFrom El Greco to Cézanne: Masterpieces of European Painting from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., National Gallery Alexandros Soutzos Museum. Athens, 1992, pp. 36–37, 305, no. 2, ill. (color) [catalogue section unpaginated].
Important and Fine Old Master Paintings. Christie's, New York. May 21, 1992, p. 32, under no. 15.
Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. Ed. Susan Alyson Stein. 3rd ed. [1st ed. 1930, repr. 1961]. New York, 1993, pp. 96–97, 104, 124–28, 292, 320 nn. 151, 157, p. 322 n. 169, p. 345 n. 471.
Susan Alyson Stein inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 229.
Keith Christiansen inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 55, colorpl. 57, notes that cleaning in 1989–90 removed repainting, confirmed Veronese's authorship, and revealed a pentimento of the dog to the left of its present position.
Gretchen Wold inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 381, no. A503, ill.
Terisio Pignatti and Filippo Pedrocco. Veronese. Milan, 1995, vol. 1, pp. 235–36, no. 134, ill., date it to the early 1560s.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 82, ill.
Gary Tinterow inLa collection Havemeyer: Quand l'Amérique découvrait l'impressionnisme. Exh. cat., Musée d'Orsay. Paris, 1997, pp. 28, 104, no. 3, ill. p. 29 (color), dates it about 1570.
Jane Bridgeman inGiovanni Battista Moroni: Renaissance Portraitist. Exh. cat., Kimbell Art Museum. Fort Worth, 2000, pp. 46–47, 52 n. 14, fig. 27, dates it about 1570 and discusses the clothing.
Harold Koda. Extreme Beauty: The Body Transformed. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2001, p. 136, ill. (color, cropped).
Andrea Bayer. "North of the Apennines: Sixteenth-Century Italian Painting in Venice and the Veneto." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 63 (Summer 2005), p. 25, fig. 21 (color), suggests that the picture may originally have had a pendant and may have hung next to a door or other architectural element in order to emphasize its simulated three-dimensionality.
John Garton. Grace and Grandeur: The Portraiture of Paolo Veronese. London, 2008, pp. 100–101, 176–77, 198–99, 210, no. 13, colorpl. 35, ill. p. 198, dates it about 1564–65, comparing it with Veronese's "Holy Family with Saints Catherine and John the Baptist" (Uffizi, Florence).
Xavier F. Salomon. "Review of Garton 2008." Burlington Magazine 150 (October 2008), p. 694, disagrees with Garton's dating of the picture, stating that the work "is probably later than c. 1564–65 and closer in facture to the Cuccina paintings from the early 1570s" [see Ref. Rearick 1988].
John Garton and Frederick Ilchman in Frederick Ilchman. Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice. Exh. cat., Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Boston, 2009, p. 199, fig. 90 (color), believe that it "depicts a similar melancholic portrayal" to Veronese's lost portrait of the poet Sir Philip Sidney.
David Rosand. Véronèse. Paris, 2012, p. 273, colorpl. 227.
Katharine Baetjer inEuropean Masterpieces from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Exh. cat., Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art. South Brisbane, 2021, pp. 98, 233, ill. p. 99 (color).
The frame is Neapolitan and dates to about 1635 (see figs. 1–4 above). This extravagant reverse profile frame is made of pine and retains its original water gilded surface. The sight edge is carved in stylized olive leaves and fruit tendrils emerging from a center point and bound with a ribbon at the corners. The swept back frieze is carved with cauliculi volutes and husks on a punchwork background with acanthus corners. The back edge is a twisted ribbon around a beaded shaft which steps down to running acanthus leaf. A skillful early enlarging added dimension to both vertical sides which appear slightly different in tone. The carved motifs are undoubtedly inspired by border patterns drawn from tapestries.
Timothy Newbery with Cynthia Moyer 2020; further information on this frame can be found in the Department of European Paintings files
According to the Martinengo family of Brescia, who once owned this picture, the sitter is a member of the Colleoni family. The Colleoni and Martinengo families were connected by marriage.
A bust portrait of this boy in the same attitude was formerly in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu (sold, Christie's, New York, May 21, 1992, no. 15).
Paolo Veronese (Paolo Caliari) (Italian, Verona 1528–1588 Venice)
ca. 1580–85
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