- Title:
- A Man with a Skull
- Object name(s):
- Picture; Early Netherlandish
- Brief description:
- This seemingly straightforward portrait was one of the National Gallery's most controversial purchases of the nineteenth century. Bought in 1845 as 'the Gallery's first Holbein', its authenticity was quickly cast into doubt. Recent dendrochronological analysis of the panel -- a method of determining the age of a piece of wood by analysing its pattern of rings -- shows that it was made after Holbein's death.We're not sure who the sitter was, but the coat of arms in the upper corner suggests he came from Brussels or Leuven or the surrounding area and is probably a member of the Heverlee family. Michiel Coxcie was the most important portrait painter working in Brussels when this was made, and stylistic comparison with his other paintings confirms him as the artist.
- Collection:
- National Gallery
- Accession date:
- 1845-01-01
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1845
- Date - latest:
- 1845
- Associated concept:
- coats of arms
- Associated concept:
- skulls
- Credit line:
- Bought, 1845
- Current location:
- Not on display
- Current reproduction location:
- 1/401/72/54/mid_N-0195-00-000013.jpg
- Dimension:
- Height
- Dimension measured part:
- Overall
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 97.00
- Dimension:
- Width
- Dimension measured part:
- Overall
- Dimension measurement unit:
- cm
- Dimension value:
- 75.40
- Form:
- None
- Material:
- oil
- Material:
- Baltic/Polish oak
- Material:
- oil on wood
- Object name:
- Picture; Early Netherlandish
- Object production date:
- Date - period:
- 1550-74
- Object production date:
- about 1560 or later
- Date - earliest / single:
- 1560
- Date - latest:
- 1560
- Object production person:
- Michiel Coxcie
- Person's birth date:
- 1499
- Person's death date:
- 1592
- Object production person:
- Nicolas de Neufchâtel
- Person's birth date:
- 1561
- Person's death date:
- 1567
- Object production place:
- Netherlands
- Object production place:
- Antwerp
- Other number:
- NG195
- Other number type:
- object number
- Other number:
- 0EXZ-0001-0000-0000
- Other number type:
- PID
- Other number:
- NG195
- Other number type:
- display number
- Other number:
- 000-03FW-0000
- Other number type:
- PID (NG alternative)
- Other number:
- ng2195
- Other number type:
- sort number
- Owner:
- Simon Jacques Rochard
- Responsible department/section:
- Main Collection
- Right note:
- To encourage the use and reuse of the National Gallery's collection data, they are released under the following dedications and licences: Structured data (as opposed to narrative texts) are released under a Creative Commons Zero dedication (CC0): https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. Descriptions, notes and all other narrative text content are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence (CC BY): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Images are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 licence (CC BY-NC-ND): https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
- Style:
- memento mori
- Style:
- three-quarter length portraits
- Style:
- male portraits
- Style:
- high Renaissance
- User's reference:
- National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Netherlandish Paintings: With French Paintings before 1600
- Reference details:
- 1.298-305
- Reference note:
- Latest catalogue
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School
- Reference details:
- 103
- Reference note:
- Previous catalogues
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- National Gallery Catalogues: Early Netherlandish School
- Reference details:
- 117-18
- Reference note:
- Previous catalogues
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- National Gallery Catalogues: The Early Netherlandish School
- Reference details:
- 157-8
- Reference note:
- Previous catalogues
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue
- Reference details:
- 502
- Reference note:
- Key bibliography
- Reference type:
- reference
- User's reference:
- A closer look : deceptions and discoveries /Marjorie E. Wieseman.
- Reference details:
- Ill. fig. 46 (p. 50); ill. (infrared detail) fig. 48 (p. 52)
- Reference type:
- reference
Persistent shareable link for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/6a5d0c36-22a7-35d1-81b6-2d9602b4d4e6
Use licence for this record: CC BY
Attribution for this record: https://museumdata.uk/objects/6a5d0c36-22a7-35d1-81b6-2d9602b4d4e6, National Gallery, CC BY
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