The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 23, 2024

Portrait of a Prelate

Portrait of a Prelate

mid-1500s
(Italian, c. 1501–1556)
Italy, 16th century
oil on canvas
Framed: 171 x 138.5 x 12.5 cm (67 5/16 x 54 1/2 x 4 15/16 in.); Unframed: 140.4 x 108 cm (55 1/4 x 42 1/2 in.)
Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1947.210
Location: not on view

Description

Girolamo da Carpi, a court artist from Ferrara, was influenced by the grace and intellectual artificiality found in Italian Mannerist art, seen in the flowing S-curve of the sitter's clothing and his delicate and attenuated fingers. The sitter's dress identifies him as a prelate, a high-ranking member of the Catholic clergy. His costume includes a dark mantel with red lining over a gauzy, white rochet and the three-cornered hat, called a biretta. In his right hand he holds a book whose cover displays an elephant, standing in water, looking at the moon. This motif symbolized purity, and the sitter's virtue is further emphasized through the book's inscription, MUNDOS LIBENTER ASPICIT, which means, "The moon beholds the pure with pleasure." While several noble Renaissance households used this design for their family emblems, none have yet proven related to the prelate in this painting and so his identity remains unknown.
  • By 1946 Italico Brass (Venice, Italy)
    Alessandro Brass (Venice, Italy), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1947.
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Catalogue of Paintings, Part 3: European Paintings of the 16th, 17th, and 18th Centuries. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1982. Reproduced: p. 324; Mentioned: p. 325
    Pattanaro, Alessandra, and Girolamo da Carpi. Girolamo da Carpi. 2021, 245. Mentioned: p. 245 RA3.
    Paintings in the Cleveland Museum of Art: Picture Book No. 4 . [Cleveland]: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1952. Reproduced: p. 58 archive.org
  • The Venetian Tradition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 8, 1956-January 1, 1957).
    CMA, 1956: "The Venetian Tradition," cat. by Henry S. Francis, cat. no. 55 (Note: the second part of the inscription given in the catalogue is non-existent).
  • {{cite web|title=Portrait of a Prelate|url=false|author=Girolamo da Carpi|year=mid-1500s|access-date=23 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1947.210