Three Stories About the Painting Portrait of a Young Man
… is one of seven paintings the Carnegie Museum of Art acquired that were once part of the important Northbrook Collection. The following stories trace part of this painting’s journey from artist’s studio to the walls of CMOA.
A Moment in History: Florence, ca. 1520
- Current Owner
- Unknown Northern Italian
- Current Location
- Northern Italy
- Miles Traveled
- 0 miles
- Number of Owners
- One
By the early 16th century, portraiture had become a widely-practiced art form in Florence—where this portrait was painted—and in other parts of Europe. In the quest for social status and worldly immortality, members of the aristocracy and other elite members of society turned increasingly to commissioning portraits of themselves and their families.
That desire for legacy is ironic in the case of the painting, Portrait of a Young Man, since the identities of both the young man and the artist are lost to history. Because the portrait was once in the Medici collection in Florence, the young man has been reported to be a member of that family. But his identity remains unknown. And, based on style and composition, the portrait could be the work of any one of several well-known Florentine artists of this period. Attribution to Domenico Puligo originated with noted American art historian Bernard Berenson.
A Moment in History: Florence, ca. 1807
- Current Owner
- Jean-Baptiste-Pierre Le Brun
- Current Location
- Paris, France
- Miles Traveled
- 551 miles
- Number of Owners
- Two
Scholarly opinions about the age and place of creation of this fine portrait—Renaissance Florence—have not changed in its more than 200-year documented history. However, as with many Old Master paintings, the portrait is unsigned and experts have differed in their opinions about who painted it.
French art dealer Le Brun, who purchased Portrait of a Young Man in Florence around 1807, considered it a work of Raphael. It is with attribution to that Renaissance master that it entered the collection of Sir Thomas Baring a few years later. In the next 150 years, based on stylistic considerations, various art historians considered the portrait to be the work of one of the following Florentine Renaissance artists, in successive order: Pontormo, Andrea del Sarto, and Franciabigio, before assigning it its presently-accepted attribution to Domenico Puligo.
A Moment in History: Pittsburgh, 1964
- Current Owner
- Carnegie Museum of Art
- Current Location
- Pittsburgh, USA
- Miles Traveled
- 4595 miles
- Number of Owners
- Nine
Portrait of a Young Man belonged to Mr. Howard Noble of Pittsburgh by 1939. In 1944, it was removed from the parlor of his residence for its first public appearance in Pittsburgh at an exhibition of the Noble collection at CMOA. Mr. Noble and his wife quietly gathered a distinguished collection of 27 old master paintings during their lifetime, which was bequeathed to CMOA in 1964. But, perhaps even more important, was Mr. Noble’s additional bequest to the museum of part of his residuary estate; when distributed in 1965, it amounted to more than $800,000, a substantial sum, especially then, for new acquisitions of old master paintings. It allowed the museum to buy ten works, among them several highlights in this area of the collection.
Digital Wall Labels
Select another painting for more details and to see the animated timeline:
- Painting Pieter Cornelisz. van der Morsch, by Frans Hals
- Vision of Saint Ildephonsus, by Andrien Ysenbrandt
- Hero, Ursula, and Beatrice in Leonato’s Garden, by Reverend Matthew William Peters
- Shepherd Boy with Recorder, by Unknown Northern Italian
- Landscape with a Natural Arch, by Gaspard Dughet
- Portrait of a Young Man, by Deminico Puligo
- Ann Franks Day (Lady Ann Fenoulhet), by Sir Joshua Reynolds
