  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.
  
  
  Title
  A Young Man in a Red Cap
  
  
  Artwork Date
  ca. 1512
  
  Artist
  Michel Sittow
  
  
  
  Life Dates
  ca. 1468 - 1525 or 1526
  
  
  
  
  Nationality
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events.
  Some definitions include:
  Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation.
  
  
  
  Netherlandish
  
  
  
  Culture
  
  
  
  Please note:
  Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group.
  
  
  
  
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  Medium
  Oil on oak panel
  
  
  Dimensions
  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)
  
  
  Classification
  Paintings
  
  
  Department
  European Painting
  
  
  Credit
  Gift of Anne and Henry Ford II
  
  
  
  Accession Number
  
  
  
  This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection.
  Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings.
  For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups.
  
  
  
  58.383
  
  
  Copyright
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