Portrait of Alvise Contarini(?); (verso) A Tethered Roebuck

Jacometto Veneziano, who specialized in exquisitely refined small-scale portraits and devotional paintings, among the most intimate works of the Venetian Renaissance, created this work around 1490, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Portrait painting emerged as a major genre during the fifteenth century, reflecting the growing emphasis on individual identity and the secular confidence of the merchant and aristocratic classes.

The sitter is rendered with individualized features and careful attention to dress and accessories, employing the luminous flesh tones and controlled lighting that characterize accomplished fifteenth-century portrait painting.