Portrait of a Man

Created circa 1490, this oil-on-panel portrait is attributed to a Tyrolean master of the 15th century. Its early provenance is uncertain but likely includes the dukes of Anhalt, with the work recorded at the Gotisches Haus in Wörlitz. By 1929, the painting entered the collection of Clarence H. Mackay in Roslyn, New York.

Upon his death in 1938, it passed by inheritance to his wife, Anne Case Mackay. In March 1951, the work was consigned through Paul Drey and sold by French & Company to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in New York. The foundation subsequently gifted the painting to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1952, where it remains part of the Kress Collection.

The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., as part of the Samuel H. Kress Collection, following its 1952 gift from the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Its provenance traces back probably to the dukes of Anhalt at the Gotisches Haus in Wörlitz, near Dessau, before passing through the Duveen Brothers firm in London, New York, and Paris. It later entered the collection of Clarence H. Mackay [1874–1938] in Roslyn, New York, by 1929, descending on his death in 1938 to his wife, Mrs. Anne Case Mackay.

In 1951 the work was consigned through Paul Drey and French & Company in New York, and was purchased in March 1951 by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation before being donated to the NGA the following year.

The Portrait of a Man, attributed to an anonymous Tyrolean painter of the late fifteenth century, exemplifies regional portraiture through its oil‑on‑panel execution and representation of an unidentified male sitter. Scholarship tracing its provenance suggests an origin in the ducal collection of Anhalt before it entered the European market via the Mackay and Drey channels. The work was acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation in 1951 and subsequently gifted to the National Gallery of Art in 1952, where it remains part of the Kress Collection. Its study contributes to broader analyses of Central European painting and 15th‑century portrait conventions.

This painting, titled Portrait of a Man, presents a direct depiction of an unidentified male subject. Rendered in oil on a wooden panel, the artwork captures the man in what appears to be aged clothing, his expression solemn and his gaze fixed directly forward. The artist's meticulous attention to facial details is evident, contributing to a sense of immediacy and presence for the viewer.