Sandro Botticelli, 'Portrait of a Young Man', probably about 1480-5
About the work
Overview
This apparently simple portrait of a young man was revolutionary in Italian painting. Until this moment, artists painted people either in profile view, so only half their face was visible, or by turning them three-quarters to face the viewer.
Here, Botticelli paints the boy head on, mapping his whole face – the fleshy nose, dimpled cheeks, warm brown eyes and determined, protruding chin. Images of the whole face were usually reserved for so-called ‘portraits’ of Christ used for private prayer; showing a young man in such a way was radical.
The boy is dressed simply in brown, his dark blond curls escaping from beneath his red cap. His features are individual but his overall look resembles Botticelli’s idealised males, particularly Mars in his painting Venus and Mars, also in the National Gallery’s collection. Renaissance portraits often beautified their subjects because outward beauty was supposed to reflect inner virtue: the portrait was an eternal witness to the person’s soul as well as their appearance.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- Portrait of a Young Man
- Artist
- Sandro Botticelli
- Artist dates
- about 1445 - 1510
- Date made
- probably about 1480-5
- Medium and support
- egg tempera and oil on wood
- Dimensions
- 37.5 × 28.3 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1859
- Inventory number
- NG626
- Location
- Not on display
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Previous owners
- Frame
- 16th-century Italian Frame
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.