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Shown from the chest up on the far side of a ledge, a pale-skinned, clean-shaven young man faces our right in profile in this vertical portrait painting. He looks steadily forward. The eye we can see is brown under a thin, curving brow. His nose is bumped near the bridge, and he has a slight underbite. His pale pink lips are closed, and he has a delicate jawline. Short brown hair brushes the side of his face under a coral-red turban, the ends of which fall down his back. A high-collared dark brown garment is edged with white around the neck, and a cranberry-red robe or jacket falls open over his chest. He is shown against a dark, teal-blue background. The ledge along the bottom of the painting is black with edged with gold. Gold lettering reads, “MATHEVS OLIVIERI D NI IOANNI FILI.”

Matteo Olivieri (?)

Florentine 15th Century

Shown from the chest up on the far side of a ledge, a pale-skinned, clean-shaven young man faces our right in profile in this vertical portrait painting. He looks steadily forward. The eye we can see is brown under a thin, curving brow. His nose is bumped near the bridge, and he has a slight underbite. His pale pink lips are closed, and he has a delicate jawline. Short brown hair brushes the side of his face under a coral-red turban, the ends of which fall down his back. A high-collared dark brown garment is edged with white around the neck, and a cranberry-red robe or jacket falls open over his chest. He is shown against a dark, teal-blue background. The ledge along the bottom of the painting is black with edged with gold. Gold lettering reads, “MATHEVS OLIVIERI D NI IOANNI FILI.”

Details
Palette

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Medium
tempera (and oil?) on panel transferred to canvas
Dimensions
overall: 48 x 34.1 cm (18 7/8 x 13 7/16 in.) framed: 77.5 x 64.5 x 7 cm (30 1/2 x 25 3/8 x 2 3/4 in.)
Department
CIS-R
Holding institution
National Gallery of Art
Image provider
national-gallery-of-art
License
CC0-1.0
Credit
Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Art Genome Taxonomy

8 tags

Subject Matter

  • Individual Portrait Both · 99%

    The image presents a single sitter in a formal profile portrait, while the National Gallery of Art catalogs the work as “Matteo Olivieri (?)” and classifies it as a painting.

  • Face Visual · 97%

    The sitter’s clearly delineated profile emphasizes the brow, nose, lips, jaw, eye, and neck.

  • Text Visual · 99%

    Gold lettering is visibly painted across the dark ledge at the bottom of the composition.

Styles and Movements

  • Early Renaissance Interpretive · 82%

    The Florentine designation and 1430s date, together with the tempera-on-panel tradition and formal profile format, are consistent with Early Renaissance portraiture.

Medium and Techniques

  • Painting Metadata · 99%

    The National Gallery of Art classifies the object as a painting.

  • Tempera Metadata · 98%

    The catalog specifies tempera (and possibly oil) on panel transferred to canvas; tempera is the clearly stated technique.

Time Periods

  • 15th Century Art Metadata · 99%

    The catalog date is the 1430s, within the fifteenth century.

Geographic Regions

  • Italian Art Metadata · 95%

    The catalog identifies the maker as “Florentine 15th Century,” supporting a connection to Italian art.

Source & rights

Florentine 15th Century. Matteo Olivieri (?). Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.

Catalog record ↗ Image source ↗ Image license ↗ Image-use terms ↗ Catalog metadata terms ↗

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