ID: 700008342 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700008342	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

Portrait of a Young Man, Head and Shoulders, Wearing a Cap (drawing (visual work); Attributed to Piero del Pollaiuolo (Italian, about 1443 - 14...; about 1470; J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles, Los A...; 2012.3)

Note: Close to the picture plane, a young man, seen slightly from below in head and shoulders format, looks out directly at the viewer. Probably a nobleman, he wears a felt cap over thick locks of hair, and he is dressed in a tunic buttoned at the neck. The pose and format are characteristic of painted portraits of the time, although adopting the emerging full-face view instead of the more traditional side profile. This intense portrait depicts an as-yet-unidentified figure. It seems at first glance to be drawn in simple terms centered on the dark eyes, but in fact the image is created from immensely subtle fields of parallel pen hatching that model the face, setting the features carefully in space. Underlying black chalk work adds to the effect. For the whites of the eyes the paper is left absolutely blank, perhaps even burnished a little, so that the white stands out clearly against the delicate hatching found elsewhere on the sheet. The combination of subtle parallel hatching and distinctive thick pen strokes (as in the hair) is characteristic of niello work, in which decorative silver panels were incised, inlaid with black alloy, fired, and polished flat.Curiously, the sitter's tunic is buttoned right-over-left, unusual for male clothing of the period (as today). This raises the possibility that the drawing is perhaps a self-portrait, the image - and clothing - being reversed by the mirror into which the artist is looking. The intense directness of the gaze would also support this theory.

Titles:

Portrait of a Young Man, Head and Shoulders, Wearing a Cap (preferred,C,U,RP,English-P,,)

Portrait of a Young Man (C,U,DE,English,,)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

drawing (visual work) [300033973] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>)

Classifications:

drawings (preferred)

Creation Date: about 1470

Creator Display:

Attributed to Piero del Pollaiuolo (Italian, about 1443 - 1496) (Italian Artist) [preferred,JPGM]

draftsman Pollaiuolo, Piero (Italian painter, ca. 1441-ca. 1496) [500011428]

Locations:

Current: J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center (Los Angeles, Los Angeles county, California, United States) [500329598] J. Paul Getty Museum, J. Paul Getty Trust, Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Repository Numbers: 2012.3

Other: Creation: Italia [1000080] Europe (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Display Materials: Pen and brown ink over black chalk

	pens (drawing and writing implements) [300022452]
	.......(Objects Facet, Furnishings and Equipment (hierarchy name), Tools and Equipment (hierarchy name), equipment, <equipment by process>, image-making equipment, <equipment for drafting| drawing| and writing>, <drafting| drawing and writing equipment by specific type>)

	ink [300015012]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>)

	black chalk [300080058]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by composition>, inorganic material, chalk)

Dimensions: 36.2 x 22.9 cm (14 1/4 x 9 in.)

Cultures:

Italian (preferred)

General Subject:

portraits (preferred)

Specific Subjects:

	man (male human) [300025928]
	.....(Agents Facet, People (hierarchy name), people (agents), <people by gender or sex>) (AAT)

	cap (headgear) [300046094]
	.....(Objects Facet, Furnishings and Equipment (hierarchy name), Costume (hierarchy name), costume (mode of fashion), costume accessories, worn costume accessories, <accessories by location on the head>, headgear) (AAT)

Inscriptions: Bears letter X in brown ink in lower right corner

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

Sources and Contributors:
Portrait of a Young Man, Head and Shoulders, Wearing a Cap	........ [JPGM,VP]
	........ J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)
Portrait of a Young Man	........ [JPGM,VP]
	........ J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)

Subject: ....... [JPGM,VP]

Note:
English	..... [JPGM]
	..... J. Paul Getty Museum database for collections (2000-)