A Knight of the Golden Fleece
Jean Perréal·c. 1495
Historical Context
This portrait of A Knight of the Golden Fleece, attributed to Jean Perréal and dating to around 1495, depicts a nobleman wearing the chain of Europe's most prestigious chivalric order, founded by Philip the Good of Burgundy in 1430. Perréal was the leading French painter at the court of Charles VIII and Louis XII, accompanying the French kings on their Italian campaigns. His refined portrait style bridges the Late Gothic and early Renaissance traditions.
Technical Analysis
The oil on European walnut panel shows the meticulous technique of late fifteenth-century French portraiture, with precise rendering of the sitter's features and the Golden Fleece insignia. The smooth, polished surface and restrained color palette reflect the Northern European tradition of exacting realism.
Provenance
Possibly (Paul Cassirer, Berlin), 1920s. Arthur Sachs [1880-1975], New York, Paris, and Cannes, by 1927/1928;[1] gift 1964 to NGA. [1] A photograph in the William Suhr archives, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, is annotated on the back with a note indicating that Suhr restored the painting when it belonged to Cassirer in the 1920s (Burton B. Fredericksen, letter to John Oliver Hand, 10 February 1997). It is possible that Sachs purchased the painting from Cassirer, although Walter Feilchenfeldt has not found the painting in the Cassirer records (e-mail to Anne Halpern, 21 August 2008). Sachs is listed as the owner in the catalogue for a 1928 exhibition in Detroit. Although Sachs lent a portrait by a "French Primitive" to the Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1927, there is nothing to connect it with the National Gallery's painting (Abigail G. Smith, acting archivist, Harvard University Art Museums, letter to John Oliver Hand, 9 June 1993). The letters and e-mail are in NGA curatorial files.
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