An Unknown Man with a Hooded Hawk
German School
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1537
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
330 x 255 mm
Place of origin
Germany
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486200
Caption
An inscription on the back of this panel states that the portrait was painted in 1537, when the sitter was 31 years old. At one time, this portrait was attributed to Holbein, but it is not of a quality to be by the master himself. Falconry was a pastime restricted to the aristocracy. The sitter is therefore making a conspicuous statement about his wealth and social standing.
Summary
Oil painting on panel, An Unknown Man with a Hooded Hawk, German School, 1537. A half-length portrait, turned slightly to the right, gazing to the right, wearing a gold chain round his neck, a flat black cap with small cylindrical aglets and a white plume, a dark brown doublet with similar aglets and four brooches at the neck with the right hand holding a hawk's wing feather. The hawk is hooded and stands on a thonged cushion.
Provenance
In the collection of the 3rd Earl of Egremont (1751-1837) by 1835. Thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by H.M.Treasury.
Credit line
Petworth House, The Egremont Collection (acquired in lieu of tax by HM Treasury in 1956 and subsequently transferred to the National Trust)
Marks and inscriptions
Ae 1537 AETATIS SVE XXXI (inscribed on back)(inscription reproduced exactly from Collins Baker)
Makers and roles
German School, artist