The ''Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati'' is a painting by early Netherlandish painter

Jan van Eyck Jan van Eyck ( , ; – July 9, 1441) was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. Ac ...

, dating to around 1431 and now in the

Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal do ...

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Niccolò Albergati Niccolò Albergati (1373 – 9 May 1443) was an Italian Roman Catholic prelate and professed member from the Carthusians. He became a cardinal (Catholic), cardinal and had served as a papal diplomat to France and England (1422–23) in ad ...

was a diplomat working under

Pope Martin V Pope Martin V ( la, Martinus V; it, Martino V; January/February 1369 – 20 February 1431), born Otto (or Oddone) Colonna, was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 November 1417 to his death in February 1431. Hi ...

. During a peace congress in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, he met van Eyck, who portrayed him in a drawing in which the artist added notes on the colours in order to execute a later painting portrait. The drawing is now in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen of

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

, Germany. The cardinal is portrayed from three-quarters, as was usual in Flemish painting since as early as the 1430s, on a dark background which enhances the figure, which is instead subject to a bright light source. As common in van Eyck's work, attention to detail is maximum, thanks to his technique using successive layers of colors diluted with oil, which allowed him deep effects of transparency and lucidity. Comparison with the preparatory drawing shows that van Eyck changed several realistic details, such as the depth of the shoulders, the lower curve of the nose, the depth of the mouth and mainly the size of the ear, perhaps to strengthen the impression of seniority and, consequently, of authority of the cardinal.

References

* Ainsworth, Maryan Wynn. ''From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art''. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009. * Borchert, Till-Holger. ''Van Eyck''. London:

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, 2008. * Conway, Martin. "A Head of Christ by John van Eyck". ''The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs'', Volume 39, No. 225, December 1921 * Harbison, Craig. ''Jan van Eyck, The Play of Realism''. London: Reaktion Books, 1991. * Otto Pächt. ''Van Eyck and the Founders of Early Netherlandish Painting''. Harvey Miller, New York, 2000 * Schneider, Norbert. ''Jan van Eyck, the altar of Ghent: proposals for a reform of the church'' (in Spanish). 21st Century, 1997. {{DEFAULTSORT:Portrait of Cardinal Niccolo 1430s paintings Portraits by Jan van Eyck Albergati Paintings in the collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Portraits of men