Portrait of a Young Man

A young man of evident wealth and breeding poses in this portrait from around 1500 at the Brooklyn Museum. Portrait painting was a secondary but important part of Pinturicchio"s practice, and his sitters typically came from the papal court and the Italian aristocracy. The Brooklyn Museum"s collection of Italian Renaissance painting provides an accessible American venue for works that originated in the palaces and churches of fifteenth-century Italy.

The portrait shows a young man in three-quarter view against a landscape background, a format that had become standard for Italian portrait painting by 1500. Pinturicchio renders the sitter"s features with careful naturalistic observation, while the costume receives the decorative attention characteristic of his approach. The landscape background adds depth and interest, with the careful rendering of distance typical of Umbrian painting. The palette is warm, with the sitter"s rich clothing providing color accents.