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Portrait of a Franciscan (?)

Image credit: The National Gallery, London

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Notes

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We don’t know who the sitter in this almost postcard-sized portrait is. Although he wears the grey habit of a Franciscan, his hair is not tonsured – shaved on top as a sign of humility – as was customary for them. The precise identity of the artist is also uncertain, although he seems to have been a member of Robert Campin’s workshop.

Frame and support are carved from a single piece of oak, from the same tree as The Virgin and Child in an Interior, also by Campin’s workshop (though these were not painted by the same artist). This is possibly one of the earliest surviving portraits where the sitter rests his fingers on the frame, which would become a conventional pose in Netherlandish painting.

The National Gallery, London

London

Title

Portrait of a Franciscan (?)

Date

before 1432

Medium

Oil on oak

Measurements

H 18.7 x W 11.7 cm

Accession number

NG6377

Acquisition method

Bought, 1966

Work type

Painting

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Normally on display at

The National Gallery, London

Trafalgar Square, London, Greater London WC2N 5DN England

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