Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Portrait of a Prelate, probably Angelo Giori
Valentin de Boulogne French
Not on view
The highly cultivated sitter was an intimate of the Barberini family and became a papal chamberlain and then a cardinal under Urban VIII (who served as pope from 1623 to 1644). He eventually owned works by Nicolas Poussin and Bernini as well as Valentin (Saint John the Baptist and Saint Jerome, both completed in 1629, are on view in the last gallery). Giori lost fingers on his right hand in a hunting accident, which Valentin’s art has restored as a matter of decorum. This painting is the earliest surviving portrait by Valentin and demonstrates his understanding of portraiture as characterization rather than a mere record of the sitter’s appearance.
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