1504
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Dominant colour
Portrait of a Prelate is a 1504 unspecified by Girolamo da Carpi, a Mannerism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
A man in a dark robe and red-lined cape sits stiffly, holding a book. His white lace sleeves peek out, and his long fingers curl around the pages. A small black hat perches on his head. The way his body twists into a gentle S-shape was a favorite trick of artists in 16th-century Italy. They liked making figures look elegant, even if it meant bending the rules of anatomy. His fingers are stretched thin, almost too delicate to be real. If you like this kind of polished, slightly odd portrait, look up *Italian Mannerism*.
Girolamo da Carpi, a court artist from Ferrara, was influenced by the grace and intellectual artificiality found in Italian Mannerist art, seen in the flowing S-curve of the sitter's clothing and his delicate and attenuated fingers. The sitter's dress identifies him as a prelate, a high-ranking member of the Catholic clergy. His costume includes a dark mantel with red lining over a gauzy, white rochet and the three-cornered hat, called a biretta . In his right hand he holds a book whose cover displays an elephant, standing in water, looking at the moon. This motif symbolized purity, and the…
Read the full account in the museum source.
Girolamo Da Carpi (1501 – 1 August 1556) was an Italian painter and decorator who worked at the Court of the House of Este in Ferrara.
See the richer artist page
