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This painting shows a man seen from the waist up, facing to the right with his hands resting on a cane. He has pale, yellow-toned skin, a straight nose, thin eyebrows, and thin, straight lips. His hair is dark brown and shoulder-length, and on top of his head is a black cap. He is dressed in dark clothing with a high neckline, a chain necklace across his chest, and a red garment over his shoulders. He wears rings on his fingers. The background is a yellow-brown color with visible brushstrokes.
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This painting shows a man seen from the waist up, facing to the right with his hands resting on a cane. He has pale, yellow-toned skin, a straight nose, thin eyebrows, and thin, straight lips. His hair is dark brown and shoulder-length, and on top of his head is a black cap. He is dressed in dark clothing with a high neckline, a chain necklace across his chest, and a red garment over his shoulders. He wears rings on his fingers. The background is a yellow-brown color with visible brushstrokes.

National Gallery of Art · Painting

A Knight of the Golden Fleece

Attributed to Jean Perréal

Date
c. 1495
Medium
oil on European walnut
Dimensions
overall: 68 x 53.7 cm (26 3/4 x 21 1/8 in.) framed: 74.9 x 61.6 x 6 cm (29 1/2 x 24 1/4 x 2 3/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Accession number
1964.16.1
Credit line
Gift of Arthur Sachs
Time span
1401 to 1500
Department
CNE-R
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • painted surface
  • French
  • French Paintings of the Fifteenth through Eighteenth Century
  • male
  • portrait
  • Renaissance
  • Knight
  • Golden Fleece
Provenance

Possibly (Paul Cassirer, Berlin), 1920s. Arthur Sachs [1880-1975], New York, Paris, and Cannes, by 1927/1928;[1] gift 1964 to NGA. [1] A photograph in the William Suhr archives, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, is annotated on the back with a note indicating that Suhr restored the painting when it belonged to Cassirer in the 1920s (Burton B. Fredericksen, letter to John Oliver Hand, 10 February 1997). It is possible that Sachs purchased the painting from Cassirer, although Walter Feilchenfeldt has not found the painting in the Cassirer records (e-mail to Anne Halpern, 21 August 2008). Sachs is listed as the owner in the catalogue for a 1928 exhibition in Detroit. Although Sachs lent a portrait by a "French Primitive" to the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1927, there is nothing to connect it with the National Gallery's painting (Abigail G. Smith, acting archivist, Harvard University Art Museums, letter to John Oliver Hand, 9 June 1993). The letters and e-mail are in NGA curatorial files.

NGA object ID 50220. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.