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Shown from the chest up on the far side of a ledge, a pale-skinned, clean-shaven young man faces our right in profile in this vertical portrait painting. He looks steadily forward. The eye we can see is brown under a thin, curving brow. His nose is bumped near the bridge, and he has a slight underbite. His pale pink lips are closed, and he has a delicate jawline. Short brown hair brushes the side of his face under a coral-red turban, the ends of which fall down his back. A high-collared dark brown garment is edged with white around the neck, and a cranberry-red robe or jacket falls open over his chest. He is shown against a dark, teal-blue background. The ledge along the bottom of the painting is black with edged with gold. Gold lettering reads, “MATHEVS OLIVIERI D NI IOANNI FILI.”

Florentine 15th Century

Matteo Olivieri (?), 1430s

West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 4

Medium

tempera (and oil?) on panel transferred to canvas

Dimensions

overall: 48 x 34.1 cm (18 7/8 x 13 7/16 in.)

framed: 77.5 x 64.5 x 7 cm (30 1/2 x 25 3/8 x 2 3/4 in.)

Credit Line

Andrew W. Mellon Collection

Accession Number

1937.1.15

Artists / Makers

Florentine 15th Century (painter)

Image Use

This image is in the public domain.
Read our full Open Access policy for images .

Inscription

across bottom: MATHEVS OLIVIERI D[OMO]NI IOANNI FILI[US] (Matteo Olivieri, son of Giovanni)

Provenance

(Stefano Bardini [1836-1922], Florence); sold 1924 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York);[1] purchased 15 December 1936 by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[2] gift 1937 to NGA.

[1] A 16 November 1923 cable from the Duveen Paris office describes the Matteo Olivieri and Michele Oliveri and notes "Bardini wants 8000 Pounds pair." Payments were made on 21 January and 7 March 1924. This provenance is given in the Duveen Brothers records (Box 299, Folder 3, accession number 960015, Research Library, The Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles), and in Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America, New York, 1941: no. 41. The painting cannot be securely identified with any of those listed as belonging to Bardini by F. Scalia and C. De Benedictis, Il Museo Bardini, Florence, 1984: 1:121-125.

[2] The original Duveen Brothers invoice is in Gallery Archives, copy in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

Bardini, Stefano
Duveen Brothers, Inc.
Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, The A.W.

Exhibition History

1927: Fifth Loan Exhibition of Old and Modern Masters, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1927, no. 23, as by Domenico Veneziano.

Bibliography

1907: Pudelko, Georg. “Paolo Uccello.” In Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker, eds. Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 33(1939):535, as by Paolo Uccello.

1930: Venturi, Lionello. “Paolo Uccello.” L’Arte n.s. 1 (January 1930): 63-64, as by Paolo Uccello.

1931: Hendy, Philip. Catalogue of the Exhibited Paintings and Drawings. Boston, 1931: 236.

1931: Venturi, Lionello. Pitture italiane in America. Milan, 1931: pl. 164, as by Paolo Uccello.

1932: Marangoni, Matteo. “Una predella di Paolo Uccello.” Dedalo 12 (May 1932): 336, as by Paolo Uccello.

1933: Boeck, Wilhelm. “Uccello Studien.” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 2 (1933): 270-271, 272, fig. 15, as by Paolo Uccello

1933: Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. Translated by Countess Vanden Heuvel and Charles Marriott. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 2:pl.196, as by Paolo Uccello.

1934: Paatz, Walter. “Una Natività di Paolo Uccello alcuni considerazioni sull’arte del maestro.” Rivista d’Arte 16 (1934): 16, 20-21, as by Paolo Uccello.

1934: Pudelko, Georg. “Studien über Domenico Veneziano.” Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 4 (January 1934): 165-166, as by Paolo Uccello.

1934: Pudelko, Georg. “The Early Works of Paolo Uccello.” The Art Bulletin 16, no. 3 (1934): 249, 252, fig. 17, as by Paolo Uccello.

1935: Pudelko, Georg. “Florentiner Porträts der Renaissance.” Pantheon 15 (1935): 95, as by Paolo Uccello.

1936: Lipman, Jean. “The Florentine Profile Portrait in the Quattrocento.” The Art Bulletin 18, no. 1 (1936): 68, 75, 79, 95, 101, as by Paolo Uccello.

1936: Salmi, Mario. Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno, Domenico Veneziano. Rome, 1936: 98, 123, pl. 160, as by Domenico Veneziano.

1937: Cortissoz, Royal. An Introduction to the Mellon Collection. Boston, 1937: 16.

1938: Kennedy, Ruth Wedgwood. Alesso Baldovinetti, a critical & historical study. New Haven, 1938: 200 n. 6, as by Paolo Uccello.

1938: Salmi, Mario. Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno, Domenico Veneziano. 2nd ed. Rome, 1938: 130, 173, pl. 160, as by Domenico Veneziano.

1938: Wackernagel, Martin. Der Lebensraum des Künstlers in der florentinischen Renaissance. Leipzig, 1938: 127.

1939: Arslan, Edoardo. “Review of Mario Salmi, Paolo Uccello (1936).” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 8 (1939): 314-315.

1939: Boeck, Wilhelm. Paolo Uccello. Berlin, 1939: 120, as by Paolo Uccello.

1941: Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 41, repro., attributed to Domenico Veneziano, as Portrait of Giovanni Olivieri.

1941: Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 57, no. 15, as by Domenico Veneziano.

1941: Wackernagel, Martin. “Paolo Uccello.” Pantheon 27 (May 1941): 104-105, as by Paolo Uccello (?).

1942: Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 239, repro. 98, as by Domenico Veneziano.

1948: Antal, Frederick. Florentine Painting and its Social Background: The Bourgeois Republic before Cosimo de’ Medici’s Advent to Power, XIV and XV Centuries. London, 1948: 360, as by Paolo Uccello.

1948: Salmi, Mario. Masaccio. 2nd ed. Rome, 1948: 175, as by Domenico Veneziano.

1949: Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 10, repro., as by Domenico Veneziano

1949: Somaré, Enrico. Uccello. Milan, 1949: 39.

1950: Bodmer, Heinrich. “Eine Hochzeitstruhe des Domenico Veneziano.” In Jahresgabe 1950 des Bodmer-Familien-Fonds in Zürich. Zurich, 1950: 12, as by Domenico Veneziano.

1950: Pope-Hennessy, John. The Complete Work of Paolo Uccello. London, 1950: 148, fig. 8, as probably by Domenico Veneziano.

1951: Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 40 n. 1.

1952: Longhi, Robert. "Il maestro di Pratovecchio." Paragone 25, no. 25 (1952): 33 n. 11, as Copy of Domenico Veneziano.

1954: Berti, Luciano. “Notizia di Domenico Veneziano.” In Mostra di quattro maestri del primo Rinascimento. Exh. cat. Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, 1954: 80, 82.

1957: Sindona, Ennio. Paolo Uccello. Milan, 1957: 58-59, pl. 34, as by Paolo Uccello.

1959: Carli, Enzo. Tutta la pittura di Paolo Uccello . 2nd ed. Milan, 1959: 69, pl. 122, as Circle of Domenico Veneziano.

1963: Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:62. 2:pl.704, as by Domenico Veneziano.

1964: Berti, Luciano. Masaccio. Milan, 1964: 82.

1965: Hatfield, Rab. “Five Early Renaissance Portraits.” The Art Bulletin 47, no. 3 (1965): 316, 326-327, 330, fig. 9, as by Domenico Veneziano (?).

1965: Mallé, Luigi. “Appunti albertiani in margine al ‘Della pittura’.” Arte Lombarda 10 (1965): 215, as by Domenico Veneziano.

1965: Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 42, as by Domenico Veneziano.

1966: Pope-Hennessy, John. The Portrait in the Renaissance. London and New York, 1966: 36-37, 40 n. 55, 307-308, as by Domenico Veneziano.

1968: Gilbert, Creighton. “The Renaissance Portrait.” Review of John Pope-Hennessy, The Portrait in the Renaissance (1963). The Burlington Magazine 110, no. 782 (May 1968): 283.

1968: National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 35, repro., as by Domenico Veneziano.

1969: Pope-Hennessy, John. Paolo Uccello: Complete Edition. London and New York, 1969: 149, fig. 8, as probably by Domenico Veneziano.

1971: Tongiorgi Tomasi, Lucia, and Ennio Flaiano. L’opera completa di Paolo Uccello. Milan, 1971: 87, repro.

1972: Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 123, 645, as Copy after Masaccio.

1974: Hendy, Philip. European and American Paintings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Boston, 1974: 160.

1974: Parronchi, Alessandro. Paolo Uccello. Bologna, 1974: 49, pl. 94, as by Paolo Uccello.

1975: De Logu, Giuseppe, and Guido Marinelli. Il ritratto nella pittura italiana. 2 vols. Bergamo, 1975: 236.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 108, repro., as by Domenico Veneziano.

1977: Ragghianti, Carlo. Filippo Brunelleschi, un uomo, un universo. Florence, 1977: 111, as by Domenico Veneziano.

1978: Sleptzoff, L. M. Men or Supermen? The Italian Portrait in the Fifteenth Century. Jerusalem, 1978: 47, as by Domenico Veneziano (?).

1979: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:182-184; 2:pl. 127, as Matteo Olivieri (?).

1980: Wohl, Hellmut. The Paintings of Domenico Veneziano. Oxford, 1980: 138-140, pl. 127, as Workshop of Domenico Veneziano.

1984: Sokolowski, Thomas W., and Thomas W. Styron. From Veneziano to Pollock: Masterworks Donated to the Chrysler Museum by Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. Nortfolk, VA, 1984: 7, as by Domenico Veneziano.

1985: Boehm, Gottfried. Bildnis und Individuum. Über den Ursprung der Porträtmalerei in der italienischen Renaissance. Munich, 1985: 210-211, as Workshop of Domenico Veneziano.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 153, repro.

1988: Berti, Luciano, et al. Masaccio. Florence, 1988: 33.

1990: Damian, Véronique. Peintures Florentines. Collections du Musée de Chambéry. Chambéry, 1990: 103.

1990: Dühlberg, Angelica. Privatporträts. Geschichte und Ikonologie einer Gattung im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert. Berlin, 1990: 73, 226, as doubtfully by Domenico Veneziano.

1991: Cole, Bruce. Piero della Francesca: Tradition and Innovation in Renaissance Art. New York, 1991: 16, as by Domenico Veneziano.

1991: Harrison, Jefferson C. The Chrysler Museum. Handbook of the European and American Collections: Selected Paintings, Scupture and Drawings. Norfolk, VA, 1991: 3, as Attributed to Domenico Veneziano.

1991: Paolieri, Annarita. Paolo Uccello, Domenico Veneziano, Andrea del Castagno. Florence, 1991: 10, 40, as by Domenico Veneziano (?).

1992: Borsi, Franco, and Stefano Borsi. Paolo Uccello. Milan, 1992: 344, repro., as Attributed to Domenico Veneziano.

1993: Acidini Luchinat, Cristina. Benozzo Gozzoli: La cappella dei Magi. Milan, 1993: 369 n. 3.

1993: Gagliardi, Jacques. La conquête de la peinture: L’Europe des ateliers du XIIIe au XVe siècle. Paris, 1993: 357.

1993: Joannides, Paul. Masaccio and Masolino. A Complete Catalogue. London, 1993: 461.

1996: Christiansen, Keith. "Domenico Veneziano." In Jane Turner, ed. The Dictionary of Art. 34 vols. New York and London, 1996: 9:103, as "may reasonably be attributed to Domenico [Veneziano]."

1997: Boskovits, Miklós. “Studi sul ritratto fiorentino quattrocentesco. Parte I” Arte Cristiana 85, no. 781 (July-August 1997): 256-257, fig. 3, as by an Anonymous Florentine c. 1440, close to the Master of the Castello Nativity.

1998: Penny, Nicholas. “The Study and Imitation of Old Picture-Frames.” The Burlington Magazine vol. 140, no. 1143 (June 1998): 378, fig. 28.

1999: Holmes, Megan. Fra Filippo Lippi, The Carmelite Painter. New Haven and London, 1999: 129, fig. 122.

2000: Fahy, Everett. Dipinti, disegni, miniature, stampe: L'Archivio storico fotografico di Stefano Bardini. Florence, 2000: 20, as by Domenico Veneziano.

2000: Wright, Alison. “The Memory of Faces: Choices in Portraiture.” In Giovanni Ciappelli and Patricia Lee Rubin, eds. Art, Memory, and Family in Renaissance Florence. Cambridge, 2000: 92, fig. 14.

2003: Boskovits, Miklós, David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2003: 266-270, color repro.

2006: Fahy, Everett. "Early Italian paintings in Washington and Philadelphia." The Burlington Magazine 148, no. 1241 (August 2006): 540.

2008: Hudson, Hugh. Paolo Uccello: Artist of the Florentine Republic. Saarbrücken, 2008: 337-338, cat. 69.

2012: Natali, Antonio, Enrica Neri Lusanna, and Angelo Tartuferi, eds. Bagliori dorati: Il Gotico Internazionale a Firenze 1375-1440. Exh. cat. Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence, 2012: 232.

2013: Campbell, Stephen J. and Michael W. Cole. Italian Renaissance Art. New York, 2013: 155-156, color fig. 6.31.

2014: Chiodo, Sonia, and Serena Padovani, eds. The Alana Collection, Newark, Delaware, USA. Vol. III: Italian Paintings from the 14th to 16th Century. Florence, 2014: 258.

2017: Serres, Karen. "Duveen's Italian framemaker, Ferruccio Vannoni." The Burlington Magazine 159, no. 1370 (May 2017): 373, fig. 14.

2017: Strehlke, Carl Brandon. "Fra Filippo e Masaccio." In Enrico Parlato, ed. Altro Rinascimento. Il giovane Filippo Lippi e la Madonna di Tarquinia. Exh. cat. Palazzo Barberini, Rome, 2017: 47 n. 28.