Portrait of a Man

Artist Joos van Cleve (South Netherlandish, died 1540/1541)

Dateabout 1520-1530

Dimensions16 1/4 × 13 1/4 in. (41.3 × 33.7 cm)
Frame: 21 1/8 × 17 1/2 × 2 in. (53.7 × 44.5 × 5.1 cm)
With frame: 21 × 17 1/4 in. (53.3 × 43.8 cm)

Mediumoil on wood panel

ClassificationPaintings

Credit LineGift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1926.59

On View

Toledo Museum of Art (2445 Monroe Street), Gallery, 16

Label TextThis portrait is the pair to the portrait of a woman on the other side of the tapestry. Portraits of couples were often commissioned on the occasion of a betrothal or wedding. The rolled piece of paper and coins held by the man may refer to his profession. Though dressed in understated dark colors, the fur trim and fine materials speak of the couple’s wealth and social status, probably as members of the lesser nobility or professional community. A painted coat of arms on the back of the man’s portrait suggests he is a member of the Hanneman family of The Hague.Published ReferencesConway, M., The Van Eycks and Their Followers, London, 1921, p. 411.

Baldass, L., Joos van Cleve, der Meister des Todes Mariä, Vienna, 1925, I, p. 27; II, p. 8, n. 79, p. 26, figs. 57, 58.

Friedländer, M.J., Die Altniederländische Malerei, Leyden, 1934, IX, no. 116.

Godwin, Blake-More, Catalogue of European Paintings, Toledo, 1939, p. 74, repr. p. 75.

Constable, W. G., Art Collecting in the United States: An Outline of a History, London, T. Nelson, 1964, p. 130.

"Painting in Northern Europe 1450-1550," Toledo Museum of Art Museum News, vol. 13, no. 2, Summer 1970, p. 38 repr.

Friedländer, M.J., Early Netherlandish Painting (ed. H. Pauwels), New York, 1972, IXa, no. 116, pls. 120, 121, fig. 116.

John G. Johnston Collection, Catalogue of Flemish and Dutch Paintings, Philadelphia, 1972, p. 24.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Toledo Museum of Art, European Paintings, Toledo, 1976, p. 38, pl. 83.

Hand, John Oliver, Joos van Cleve: the Early and Mature Paintings, Princeton (diss.), 1978, pp. 208, 209, 304, repr. fig. 74.

Flemish Paintings in America, Antwerp, 1992, repr. p. 343.

Hand, John Oliver, Joos Van Cleve: The Complete Paintings, New Haven, Yale, 2004, p. 89, no. 67, p. 155, fig. 92A, p. 91.

Exhibition HistoryToledo, The Toledo Museum of Art, Portraits and Portraiture Throughout the Ages, 1937, no. 6.