Portrait of a Youth

Italienische Malerei 1480–1495, c. 1495/1498

The head, shoulders, and chest of a light-skinned boy or young man wearing a black cap and red garment nearly fill this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled slightly to our right, and he looks at us from the corners of his hazel eyes. He has smooth skin, rounded cheeks, faint, thin eyebrows, and a small nose. His full, dark pink lips are closed. He wears a brimless, soft black cap, slightly askew, over long chestnut-brown hair that covers his ears and flows down past his shoulders. Two small, gold, vertical lines accent the front center of his cap near the lower edge. He wears a collarless, crimson-red jacket, with dark brown trim along the edges and at the shoulder. Pleated folds of his ivory-white shirt material puff out from openings at the shoulders and a V at the top of the chest. There is a also brown band around the neck of the white shirt with a pattern of black, knot-like designs. The white shirt also has two rows of delicate black lines where it is pulled through at the shoulders. The boy is lit from our right and above, casting a shadow on his neck and cheek to our left. The background behind him is teal blue.
Artist
Italienische Malerei 1480–1495
Date
c. 1495/1498
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on walnut panel
Dimensions
46.8 × 34.8 cm
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licence
Public domain, CC0

Image description

The head, shoulders, and chest of a light-skinned boy or young man wearing a black cap and red garment nearly fill this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled slightly to our right, and he looks at us from the corners of his hazel eyes. He has smooth skin, rounded cheeks, faint, thin eyebrows, and a small nose. His full, dark pink lips are closed. He wears a brimless, soft black cap, slightly askew, over long chestnut-brown hair that covers his ears and flows down past his shoulders. Two small, gold, vertical lines accent the front center of his cap near the lower edge. He wears a collarless, crimson-red jacket, with dark brown trim along the edges and at the shoulder. Pleated folds of his ivory-white shirt material puff out from openings at the shoulders and a V at the top of the chest. There is a also brown band around the neck of the white shirt with a pattern of black, knot-like designs. The white shirt also has two rows of delicate black lines where it is pulled through at the shoulders. The boy is lit from our right and above, casting a shadow on his neck and cheek to our left. The background behind him is teal blue.

Italienische Malerei 1480–1495