Portrait of a Young Man
c. 1520/1530
Medium
oil on panel
Dimensions
painted surface: 22 x 17 cm (8 11/16 x 6 11/16 in.) support: 23.2 x 18.3 cm (9 1/8 x 7 3/16 in.) framed: 35.4 x 30.5 x 6.4 cm (13 15/16 x 12 x 2 1/2 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CNE-R
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Samuel H. Kress Collection
Accession Number
1961.9.21
Art Historical Context
This intimate portrait, attributed to Hans Holbein the Younger and dated around 1520–1530, captures the quiet presence of an unidentified young man during the height of the Northern Renaissance. Holbein, a German-born artist who later became court painter to Henry VIII in England, was celebrated for his penetrating psychological insight and technical mastery. Created early in his career, the small oil-on-panel work exemplifies the period’s growing interest in individual identity and humanist ideals. Painted in luminous oil on a wooden support, the compact scale—roughly the size of a modern bo...