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Notes
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A young man seems to be reading a paper covered in elaborate writing. The document is almost certainly a letter, although the places where the name of the recipient would have appeared are concealed. A lost inscription named the figure as Saint Ivo, patron of lawyers and known as the advocate of the poor, but he lacks many of the saint’s usual features. The painting might be either an image of Saint Ivo made when his iconography was not fully understood or a different subject transformed into the saint when his cult was gaining popularity. If it is not Saint Ivo, it is hard to suggest an alternative subject. If this is a portrait, it’s a totally unconventional one: fifteenth-century sitters were not shown engaged in activities in this way.
Title
A Man Reading (Saint Ivo?)
Date
about 1450
Medium
Oil on oak
Measurements
H 45 x W 35 cm
Accession number
NG6394
Acquisition method
Bought, 1971
Work type
Painting
