Portrait of a Man

Jacques Saillant was born in Avignon. He joined an Augustinian order and was in Rome and Florence between 1620 and 1633, with the name of Saliano. Between May 3, 1633, and May 4, 1638, he wrote six letters from Avignon to the Roman patron of the arts Cassiano del Pozzo (1588–1657), from whom he had received several commissions while living in Rome (Giovanni Bottari and Stefano Ticozzi, Raccolta di Lettere . . . , vol. 1 [1822], pp. 361–71). Saillant died in Avignon in or after 1638. This work and the other in the Museum's collection (59.72.1) provide the main evidence of his activity as a miniature painter.

The portrait is set in a feigned gilt octagonal frame that has elaborate strapwork decoration with a bright blue background and swags of colored fruit and flowers tied with pink ribbons.

[2015; adapted from Reynolds and Baetjer 1996]

The surface is in generally excellent state, though there are two small areas of overpaint, at the top center and at the right edge within the strapwork border. The panel over which the vellum is stretched is shaped at the back. The framing molding was removed, and a ragboard bezel and backing and a new convex cover glass were supplied.

[2015; adapted from Reynolds and Baetjer 1996]

[Colnaghi, London]; Aimé Martinet, Geneva (by 1956–59; sold to The Met)

Geneva. Musée d'Art et d'Histoire. "Chefs-d'œuvre de la miniature et de la gouache," June 23–August 15, 1956, no. 388 (lent anonymously).

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," November 5, 1996–January 5, 1997, no. 12.

Leo R. Schidlof. The Miniature in Europe in the 16th, 17th, 18, and 19th Centuries. Graz, Austria, 1964, vol. 2, pp. 710, 1036; vol. 4, pl. 507, fig. 1039A, mentions it with MMA 59.72.1 as "representing church dignitaries".

Graham Reynolds with the assistance of Katharine Baetjer. European Miniatures in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1996, pp. 12, 74, no. 12, colorpl. 12 and ill. p. 74.