Portrait of a Man with a Letter, This portrait depicts an unknown man wearing a black hat and holding a letter. Unlike the majority of Memling's portraits against landscape backgrounds, the sitter's head in this portrait, as well as the head of the sitter in "Portrait of a Man with a Coin," appears above the horizon line. In addition, these are the only two of Memling's portraits in which the sitter looks straight out of the picture toward the viewer. Although the sitter's identity is unknown, we can assume based on the sitter's Italian cap, long, wavy hair, and dress that the man is Italian., c.1475

 Item — Box: 261
Identifier: spc-mss0088-s36-i0485

Staff Only
Portrait of a Man with a Letter, This portrait depicts an unknown man wearing a black hat and holding a letter. Unlike the majority of Memling's portraits against landscape backgrounds, the sitter's head in this portrait, as well as the head of the sitter in "Portrait of a Man with a Coin," appears above the horizon line. In addition, these are the only two of Memling's portraits in which the sitter looks straight out of the picture toward the viewer. Although the sitter's identity is unknown, we can assume based on the sitter's Italian cap, long, wavy hair, and dress that the man is Italian.

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Scope and Contents

Vanderbilt photo identifier: SC.MSS.088.FLEM.0458; Public Notes: The painting's accession number is 9970.

Dates

  • Creation: c.1475

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

This collection may be viewed only in the reading room of Special Collections in the Jean and Alexander Heard Library. Collections should be requested 2-3 days prior to visiting in order to facilitate easier access. For questions or to request a collection, contact specialcollections@vanderbilt.edu.

Biographical / Historical

Subjects: Portraits; Landscapes; Hats; Letters; School: Flemish; Style period: Renaissance; Technique: painting (technique); Work type: paintings

Full Extent

1 Items : Image Work Type: photographic print ; Image height (in.): 9.6; Image width (in.): 6.8in.

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

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