Portrait of a Painter

Object Details

• Label

  After defeating the Byzantines and establishing Istanbul as the new capital of the Ottoman empire, Mehmet II (reigned 1451–81) invited a number of Italian painters, including Gentile Bellini (ca. 1429–1507) and Costanzo da Ferrara (ca. 1450–after 1524), to work at his court. This portrait is based on a composition attributed to Ferrara, now in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Notable for its fine details and sensitive modeling, the Ottoman version has been erroneously ascribed to the fifteenth-century Persian painter Bihzad.

• Provenance

  Jacques Doucet, Paris [1]

  1932

  Parish-Watson Company, New York 1932 [2]

  From 1932

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Parish-Watson Company, New York in 1932 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] Object file, undated folder sheet note.

  [2] Object file, undated folder sheet note. Also see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

  [3] See note 2.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Engaging the Senses (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  Facing East: Portraits from Asia (July 1 to September 4, 2006)

  Arts of the Islamic World (May 3, 1998 to January 3, 2016)

  Islamic Art (May 9, 1993 to June 3, 1997)

  Turkish Art (May 26, 1982 to June 24, 1982)

  Turkish Art (November 1, 1980 to May 25, 1982)

  Art of the Near East (August 21, 1977 to December 14, 1979)

  Turkish Art—Special Exhibition (August 1 to December 19, 1973)

  Near Eastern Art—Paintings, Pottery (August 18, 1967 to February 10, 1972)

  Near Eastern Art (June 5, 1964 to August 18, 1967)

  Persian Art (January 1, 1963 to September 3, 1963)

  Centennial Exhibition, Galleries 6 and 7 (February 25, 1956 to April 10, 1962)

  Special Exhibition (February 9, 1954 to April 20, 1954)

  Untitled Exhibition, Islamic Arts, 1947 (October 6, 1947 to February 25, 1956)

  Untitled Exhibition, Islamic Manuscripts (May 1, 1945 to September 25, 1947)

  Untitled Exhibition, Persian Paintings and Ceramics (May 5, 1933 to January 9, 1945)

  International Exhibition of Persian Art (January 7 to March 7, 1931)

  Ausstellung von Meisterwerken Mohammedanischer Kunst in München (May to October 1910)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Jacques Doucet (1853-1929)

  Parish-Watson Company

• Origin

  Istanbul, Turkey

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1400s

• Name

  Parish-Watson Company, Doucet, Jacques

• Place

  Istanbul

• Topic

  Art, Ottoman period (1307 - 1922), Arts of the Islamic World, Portraits

• Culture

  Muslims, Turks

• Object Type

  Paintings