The Portrait of a Young Man Holding a Roundel (also known as Portrait of a Young Man holding a Trecento Medallion[1]) is a painting attributed to the Italian Renaissance master Sandro Botticelli. On the basis of its style it has been estimated to have been painted around 1480.[2] The identity of the portrait's subject is unknown, but analysts suggest it could be someone from the Medici family, as Lorenzo de' Medici was one of Botticelli's main benefactors.[3]
Description of the painting
The painting, thought to have been completed c. 1480, is believed to represent the beauty ideals[4] of RenaissanceFlorentine high society.[5] The young man's tunic is of a simple, fine quality with a blue color very rare at the time.[6] The work was painted in tempera on poplar wood[7] with a width of 38.9 cm and a height of 58.7 cm.[1] The figure of the bearded saint in the trecento medallion[8] was added after the portrait was completed and is believed to be an original by Bartolomeo Bulgarini, also known as the "Ovile Master".[8] The medallion is very similar to other works by Bulgarini[9] with a presumption that it was originally trimmed from a rectangular trecento.[10] The young man is portrayed in front of a window frame in which the artist has fashioned a series of color planes.[8] The inner frame is a uniform grey color, and appears to have a bright blueish tone to the left with a darker grey one in the right so the colors seem to change from left to right.[8] One of the young man's fingers, supporting the medallion from below, rests on a bright grey strip at the bottom of the painting. The hand acts as a repoussoir that provides the illusion that the medallion is in another level within the painting.[8]
History and ownership
The first modern record of the painting was in 1938, when it was owned by Baron Newborough of Caernarvon.[1] At the time, the art dealer Frank Sabin[2] visited the Newborough estate and appraised the painting's value.[1] Lord Newborough was ignorant of the true value of the painting, so Sabin managed to buy the piece for a relatively low price.[1] Art historians assumed that the painting came into the possession of the Newborough family when the 1st Baron Newborough, Thomas Winn, lived in Florence, Italy between 1782 and 1791.[2][1]
Sabin sold the portrait to the collector Sir Thomas Merton in 1941 for a five-figure sum.[2] During Merton's ownership the portrait was first described as a work by Botticelli.[1] The attribution to Botticelli was doubted later, as prominent monographs on Botticelli did not include the portrait as one of his.[9] Currently a majority of the art historians accept the attribution to Botticelli.[2] While the Merton family owned the portrait, it became the subject of a poster for a Royal Academy of Arts Exhibition of Italian Art in 1960.[11] In 1982, Merton's descendants sold the painting for £ 810,000 at an auction at Christie's.[2]
