Portrait of a Cardinal (Alessandro Peretti Montalto?)
Ottavio Leoni
1551 to 1600
Medium
black chalk heightened with white chalk on greenish-brown laid paper (formerly blue)
Dimensions
sheet: 15.2 x 10.8 cm (6 x 4 1/4 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Joseph F. McCrindle Collection
Accession Number
2009.70.154
About the Artist
Ottavio Leoni
Ottavio Leoni (c. 1578–1630) was a Roman portraitist whose incisive chalk drawings captured the faces of some of the most celebrated figures of his age. Born in Rome, Leoni trained in the city's vibrant artistic environment during the era of the Counter-Reformation, developing a speciality in portraiture at a time when likenesses of cardinals, poets, and nobles were in high demand. He became close...