Portrait of a Man Resembling Dürer

Venetian School

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing from the Venetian School. The drawing show the bust of a man wearing a jacket and a round hat. The man has his head turned slightly towards the left, but his gaze looks directly out at the viewer. He is bearded and has shoulder length hair and a fringe. His expression is serious and even a little sad. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "No. 8 VENETIAN SCHOOL (About 1500-10) PORTRAIT OF A MAN RESEMBLING DÜRER British Museum, C. 7-47 (from the Sloane Collection). Black chalk. 39.9 x 31.3 cm. (15 11/16 x 12 5/16 in.) Head and bust nearly life-size, almost in full face; the eyes directed slightly to the right. The sitter wears the dress and cap of a Venetian nobleman; his hair escapes from his cap in short stray locks over his forehead, and at the sides falls in wavy or curling masses to his shoulders; his full moustache and beard are trimmed so as to leave the mouth quite clear; the beard is rather short and peculiarly matted at the edges. This very interesting drawing, catalogued in the Museum inventory of 1837 under the title we have given it above, comes from the famous album, dated on the binding 1637, which was formerly in the Sloane Collection and contained about a hundred genuine drawings by Albrecht Dürer, and nearly as many more by minor German and other masters. (The original ownership of this and a number of other albums similarly bound and dated remains uncertain.) The present portrait has always been anonymous, but is evidently a work of the Venetian school about 1500-10. At the same time it is very difficult to identify the hand of the draughtsman. Venetian portrait-drawings of this period are not extremely rare - the Berlin Museum is especially rich in them - and various groups of drawings are assigned with more or less probability to Gentile Bellini, Alvise Vivarini, Jacopo de' Barbari, Bonsignori, and others. But the strong handling and dark shading of the present example, with the whole air and treatment of the head, prevent it from falling into any of these recognized groups, and give it a place apart. A good judge has suggested, but not convincingly, the name of Marco Marziale as the draughtsman. This rather weak contemporary and follower of Carpaccio often shows something of a German character; and one of the curious points about the present drawing is that, though the hand must certainly be Venetian, the sitter seems to have nothing Venetian about him except his dress; this way of wearing the hair and beard would be difficult, if not impossible, to match in any Venetian picture of the time; rather it is characteristically German. Nay more, it is specifically characteristic of Albrecht Dürer himself, about the time of his second visit to Venice in 1506-7. Equally resembling Dürer will be found, on further study, the form and expression of the eyes, the growth of the eyebrows, and the contour of the cheek. If the nose seems less inclined towards a Roman curve than his, it must be pointed out that just at that place the drawing is much rubbed and the form difficult to trace. On the whole, it seems difficult to resist the interesting conclusion that we may possibly have here a portrait of Dürer in Venetian clothes, done by one of his Italian artist friends (which of them must remain uncertain) at Venice in 1506 or 1507. ... S. C."