Possibly by Bernardino Campi, 'Portrait of a Musician', 1560s
About the work
Overview
This unidentified man is standing beside a virginal, which was a very popular household keyboard instrument in sixteenth-century Italy. He is shown half-length holding a pair of steel dividers – used to take measurements – which echo the splayed pose of his fingers against his black costume.
The picture is possibly by Bernardino Campi, who was one of the leading painters in Cremona and portrayed the city’s prominent citizens. It may be that the dividers refer to the musical scale and that the man was a designer of musical instruments, as Cremona was famous for the making of musical instruments. The portrait resembles a dated and inscribed portrait by Campi of Don Prospero Quintavalle (private collection, Italy) of 1556. The costume and style of beard suggest a date in the early 1560s.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Portrait of a Musician
- Artist
- Possibly by Bernardino Campi
- Artist dates
- 1522 - 1591
- Date made
- 1560s
- Medium and support
- oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 67 × 55.5 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Salting Bequest, 1910
- Inventory number
- NG2511
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
Provenance
Additional information
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Nicholas Penny, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings’, vol. 1, ‘Paintings from Bergamo, Brescia and Cremona’, London 2004; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Bibliography
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1962Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools (excluding the Venetian), London 1962
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1987Gould, Cecil, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1987
-
2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
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2004
Penny, Nicholas, National Gallery Catalogues: The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings, 1, Paintings from Bergamo, Brescia and Cremona, London 2004
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.