About the Artwork
The author of this arresting portrait of a young man is the Estonian artist Michel Sittow, who enjoyed astonishing success as an itinerant painter seeking his fortune in the royal courts in Spain and the Netherlands. His patrons included Isabella I of Castile, Ferdinand II of Aragon, and King Carlos I, the future Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. Sittow’s colorful, small-scale portraits present a vivid slice of contemporary courtly life. This resolute young man in a fur-lined garment may be an artist: he wears a red head covering often found in portraits of painters or in images of their patron, Saint Luke. Given the sitter’s direct gaze, it has even been suggested that this intriguing work may be a self-portrait.
A Young Man in a Red Cap
ca. 1512
Michel Sittow
ca. 1468 - 1525 or 1526
Netherlandish
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Oil on oak panel
Image: 6 7/16 × 5 inches (16.4 × 12.7 cm) Unframed (uncradled): 6 7/16 × 5 1/16 × 1/8 inches (16.4 × 12.9 × 0.3 cm) Unframed (cradled): 6 7/16 × 5 1/16 × 13/16 inches (16.4 × 12.9 × 2 cm) Framed: 9 3/4 × 8 5/16 × 2 3/16 inches (24.8 × 21.1 × 5.5 cm)
Paintings
European Painting
Gift of Anne and Henry Ford II
58.383
Public Domain
Markings
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Provenance
private collection (Genoa, Italy);possibly (Vienna, Austria);
possibly 1925, (Berlin, Germany);
probably January 1928, (Paul Bottenwieser, Munich and Berlin, Germany, and New York, USA);
1928, sold to Julius H. Haass (Detroit, Michigan, USA);
1940, probably by descent, Mrs. Lillian Henkel Haass (Detroit, Michigan, USA);
1957-58, (Newhouse Galleries, New York, New York, USA);
(Frederick Mont, New York, New York, USA);
1958, presented to DIA by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Ford II;
1958-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
For more information on provenance, please visit:
Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
We welcome your feedback for correction and/or improvement.
Suggest FeedbackPublished References
Wescher, P. "Illustrierte Berichte," Pantheon 3 (February 1929): 101–104, pp. 102 (ill.), 104. [as by Jan Gossaert]
Friedländer, Max J. Altniederländische Malerei, vol. 8. Berlin, 1930, pp. 36–37, 162, no. 67, pl. L (ill.). [as by Jan Gossart]
Friedländer, Max J. Altniederländische Malerei, vol. 14. Leiden, 1937, p. 112, no. 67. [as by Master Michiel]
McCall, George Henry. Catalogue of European Painting and Sculpture from 1300-1800. Exh. cat., New York World's Fair. New York, 1939, p. 118, cat. 241, pl. 55.
Richardson, E. P. "Three Paintings by Master Michiel," Art Quarterly 2, no. 1 (1939): 102–111, pp. 107–111; (fig. 6) (ill.).
Valentiner, William R. and Alfred M. Frankfurther. Masterpieces of Art: Exhibition at the New York World's Fair 1939, Official Souvenir Guide and Picture Book. Exh. cat., New York World's Fair. New York, 1939, unpaginated, no. 241. [lent by Mrs. Lillian Henkel Haass]
Johansen, Paul. "Meister Michel Sittow, Hofmaler der Königen Isabella von Kastilien und Bürger von Reval," Jahrbuch der Preussischen Kunstsammlungen 61 (1940): 1-36, pp. 21 (ill.), 35, no. 14.
Post, Chandler Rathfon. A History of Spanish Painting 8, pt. 2. Cambridge, 1941, p. 685. [as by Miguel Sithium]
Winkler, Friedrich. "Neuentdeckte Altniederländer III: Michel Sittow," Pantheon, vol. 31 (1943): p. 100, (fig. 2).
Winkler, F. "Zittoz, Miguel, richtig Sittow." In Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler 36, eds., Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. Leipzig, 1947, pp. 532–533.
Weinberger, Martin. "Notes on Maître Michiel," Burlington Magazine 90, no. 546 (September 1948): 247–253, pp. 250–251, (fig. 6) (ill.).
Richardson, E. P. "Portrait of a Man in a Red Hat by Master Michiel," Bulletin of the DIA 38, no. 4 (1958–1959): 79–83, pp. 79–83 (ill.).
Flanders in the Fifteenth Century: Art and Civilization. Exh. cat., DIA. Detroit, 1960, pp. 200–201, cat. 53 (ill.).
Le Siècle des Primitifs Flamands. Exh. cat., l’Administration Communale de Bruges and the Detroit Institute of Arts. Bruges, 1960, pp. 161–162, cat. 64 (ill.).
Winkler, Friedrich. "Ausstellung altniederländischer Bilder aus Amerika in Brügge. Zeichnungen von Van Dyck in Antwerpen," Kunstchronik 13 (1960): 312–318, p. 314.
Herzog, Sadja Jacob. "Jan Gossart, called Mabuse (ca. 1478-1532), A Study of his Chronology with a Catalogue of his Works." Ph.D. diss., Bryn Mawr College, 1968, p. 380, no. 106. [as by Michiel Sittow]
Rebas, Robert. "Michel Sittow: Hans aterupptäckande och verk." Licentiate thesis, Stockholm University, 1971, pp. 34, 36, 66, no. 10; p. 89.
Friedländer, Max J. Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. 8. Brussels, 1972, pp. 26, 99, no. 67, pl. 52 (ill.). [as by Master Michiel]
Rebas, Rain. "Michel Sittow: Taasavastamine ja looming," Eesti Keele ja Kirjanduse Instituudi aastaraamat [Year Book of the Institute of Estonian Language and Literature] 1, no. 10 (1973): 158–210, pp. 165, 187, no. 10 (ill.).
Trizna, Jazeps. Michel Sittow, Peintre Revalais de L'École Brugeoise (1468–1525/1526). Brussels, 1976, p. 105, no. 46. [under "Attributions très douteuses ou inacceptable [very doubtful or unaccepted attributions]"]
Kõks, Endel. "Michel Sittow: A Painter from Tallinn," Journal of Baltic Studies 9, no. 1 (1978): 32-49, pp. 36-41 (ill.).
Demus, Klaus, Friderike Klauner, and Karl Schütz, eds. Flämische Malerei von Jan van Eyck bis Pieter Bruegel D.Ä. Vienna, 1981, pp. 282. [see Meister Michiel Sittow "Bildnis Einer Dame," inv. no. 6975]
Rebas, Robert. "Der Maler Michel Sittow." In Beiträge zur Geschichte der baltischen Kunst. Giessen, 1988, pp. 217, 222–223, 226, 235 (ill.), 239.
Abel, Tiina, ed. Michel Sittow 1469-1525. The artist connecting Estonia with the Southern Netherlands. Tallinn, 2001, pp. 2, 27, 29, back cover (ill.).
Frinta, Mojmir. "Observation on Michel Sittow." Artibus et Historiae 30, no. 60 (2009) 139-156, pp. 147, 151, fig. 7 (ill.)
Weniger, Matthias. Sittow, Morros, Juan de Flandes: Drei Maler aus dem Norden am Hof Isabellas der Katholischen. Kiel, 2011, pp. 52, 69, 92–93, 277, no. 1316, pl. 5b (ill.).
Dobrzynski, Judith H. "See It Now-Michel Sittow, Extraordinary Painter," Real Clear Arts (January 29, 2018) [http://www.artsjournal.com/realcleararts/2018/01/see-it-now-michel-sittow-extraordinary-painter.html (accessed January 31, 2018)]
Hand, John Oliver and Greta Koppel. Michel Sittow: Estonian Painter at the Courts of Renaissance Europe. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2018, front cover, pp. 31, 44–47, no. 2 (ill.).
You, Yao-Fen. "Paul Coremans, Edgar Richardson and the 1960 Flemish Art show: A Transatlantic Friendship Forged by a Transatlantic Exhibition." In A Man of Vision, Scientia Artis 15. Brussels, 2019, pp. 172, note 2.
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Credit Line for Reproduction
Michel Sittow, A Young Man in a Red Cap, ca. 1512, oil on oak panel. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of Anne and Henry Ford II, 58.383.
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