This exquisite and enigmatic portrait and its pendant (1975.1.86) are most likely the works by the Venetian painter and illuminator Jacometto, recorded by the connoisseur Marcantonio Michiel in the collection of a Venetian patrician in 1543. Michiel, who praised them as "a most perfect work," identified the man as Alvise Contarini and the woman as a "nun of San Secondo" (a Benedictine convent in Venice). The paired portraits and the allusion to fidelity on the verso of the male effigy (a roebuck chained beneath the Greek word AIEI, meaning “forever”) would normally suggest a married couple; however, her possible status as a nun makes it difficult to determine their relationship. If the garment is a habit, which seems doubtful given her bare shoulders, she may have led a secular life as a nun or entered the convent as a widow. The portrait may have been commissioned platonically (such cases are known). Alternatively, the wimple-like headdress may represent an entirely secular and contemporary fashion trend. Perhaps the portraits, which probably fit together in a boxlike frame, were designed to hide their clandestine relationship. Illustrating the influence of Netherlandish painting on Venetian portraiture, the portraits are striking for their meticulous detail, highly refined technique, and luminous, atmospheric landscape backgrounds.
Due to rights restrictions, this image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
Open Access
As part of the Met's Open Access policy, you can freely copy, modify and distribute this image, even for commercial purposes.
API
Public domain data for this object can also be accessed using the Met's Open Access API.
This artwork is meant to be viewed from right to left. Scroll left to view more.
1975.1.85 combined with 1975.1.86 for comparison
Artwork Details
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Portrait of a Woman, Possibly a Nun of San Secondo; (verso) Scene in Grisaille
Artist:Jacometto (Jacometto Veneziano) (Italian, active Venice by ca. 1472–died before 1498)
Date:ca. 1485–95
Medium:Oil on wood; (verso: oil and gold on wood)
Dimensions:Overall 4 x 2 7/8 in. (10.2 x 7.3 cm); recto and verso, painted surface 3 3/4 x 2 1/2 in. (9.5 x 6.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Robert Lehman Collection, 1975
Accession Number:1975.1.85
This important and exquisite miniature, together with its pendant, A Portrait of Alvise Contarini (Robert Lehman Collection, 1975.1.86), form the cornerstone of Jacometto Veneziano's oeuvre. Jacometto was a Venetian master known primarily through numerous descriptions in works of private collections written by the Venetian patrician Marcantonio Michiel in the early sixteenth century. A small corpus of portraits is now generally accepted as Jacometto's work, which is of particular interest because of the cultivated and unusual character of the imagery, including allusive painted reverses and uncommon depictions of women. Jacometto's fame among his contemporaries is suggested by a letter from the humanist Michele di Paciola written in September 1497 in which the already deceased Jacometto is called "the first man in the world" for his miniatures, his other preferred medium. Jacometto is now considered one of the Venetian artists most deeply influenced by Antonello da Messina's arrival in Venice in the mid-1470s.
The pair of portraits in the Lehman Collection have been the object of intense scrutiny in recent years regarding their original construction and function, the identity of the sitters, and the meaning of the imagery. Although great progress has been made in understanding the pair, it remains in certain ways enigmatic and some of our analysis perforce hypothetical. When the two panels are displayed as a diptych, they reveal a man and woman in contemporary dress who face one another; behind them is a complementary though not continuous landscape background that unites the two images. While the man is in characteristic late fifteenth-century Venetian garb (a black robe and cap), the woman's clothing is more unusual, combining a wimple-like veil (comparable to that seen in modified form in two other portraits by the artist) and a garment that leaves the shoulders uncovered. Each panel has a painted reverse. That of the man has a delicate depiction of a roebuck, symbol of faithful love since antiquity, tethered to a golden disk inscribed with the Greek word meaning "forever." The deer is set against a faux porphyry background, which may very well have funereal connotations. The reverse of the woman, painted to imitate gilt bronze, is the only one of the pair's four sides (rectos and versos) that lacks a gesso ground; instead it was prepared with a black paint layer covered with another, bronze-colored layer, and the composition was painted in shell gold. It is impossible to read the image fully because of surface damage; however, infrared reflectography more clearly reveals a male figure seated with legs spread on a rocky outcrop with trees in the foreground. A body of water extends to the left, and a gondola, with its distinctive oarlock, is moored near the shoreline. Although the subject of this grisaille has not been identified, it has been compared to related medallic images, most suggestively the reverse of Valerio Belli’s portrait of Pietro Bembo of about 1530, in which the writer reclines by a stream surrounded by trees. Under most circumstances, it would be sensible to think that the Lehman paintings depict a married couple, with the allegorical scenes enlarging upon the theme of conjugal relationships.
The pair of portraits was described in two separate Venetian collections in the sixteenth century. The first is that of Michele Contarini, as recorded by the patrician Marcantonio Michiel in 1543. A transcription of Michiel’s passage reads: "There is a little portrait of M(esser) Alvise Contarini q(uondam) M(esser)… who died some years ago, and a portrait across from [or opposite or adjoining] it on the same panel of a nun of San Segondo, and on the cover of these portraits a little deer in a landscape, while its leather case has foliage stamped gold. This most perfect work is by the hand of Jacometto." San Segondo (or Secondo) refers to a Benedictine convent on an island set in the Venetian lagoon. By 1565 the portraits were in the Vendramin collection, where they had received new attributions, to Giovanni Bellini; in that inventory, the woman is again described as a nun.
The questions concerning the pair’s original owner, function, and meaning are directly related to their initial construction, about which we can now speculate rather more fruitfully; even if inconclusively. The female portrait is somewhat smaller than that of the male, but its painted surface is complete and had not been trimmed. Indeed, the panel had edges of ungessoed wood, and from this we may surmise that the gesso ground was applied following the application of an engaged frame (now lost); conversely, that of the male portrait is gessoed to its edges, but it, too, has unpainted edges, that on the bottom of the portrait itself being noticeably greater (it is possible that both panels have been marginally cut down). These differences in size, preparation, and technique of the painted reverses, in addition to the discontinuity of the landscapes, indicate that the panels must have fit together in a somewhat unusual manner and were protected by the leather case mentioned by Michiel. Private portraits came in many forms: with painted covers, fitted lids, and so on. We even have examples of extant protective bags, such as a velvet one for a portrait diptych of King René of Anjou and Jeanne de Laval of about 1476 (Musée du Louvre, Paris).
Of these various possibilities, it is perhaps most likely that Jacometto’s pair was fitted into a small boxlike frame. The larger male portrait may have been at the top and was removable, perhaps sliding over the female portrait (pulled by the unpainted lower edge found on one side of the panel?), likely with the allegorical image of the resting deer uppermost. This is comparable to the construction of Albrecht Dürer’s Portrait of Hieronymous Holzschuher (Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin). When the upper panel was removed, the paintings could be seen side by side, explaining why both early descriptions focus on the front and back of the male portrait but do not mention the grisaille scene on the reverse of the female portrait, which might have often remained resting on a table. Perhaps this side’s more frequent contact with a surface accounts for its damaged state. The same would be true if the male portrait were fitted into a lid that lifted off the female portrait below, and the entire construction were a proper box. Portraits such as this could be kept entirely private – only the outermost image would normally be visible – and must therefore have had some personal meaning for the original owners, perhaps as a keepsake if the sitters were separated.
We do not know Jacomettos’ inspiration for attempting this complex construction. It is not in line with Antonello’s portraiture, which otherwise influenced him profoundly, but it is worth noting that in the Vendramin collection were two other portraits attributed to Bellini, both of which either had a cover or were set in a boxlike structure. Likewise, it has now been shown that Bellini’s Portrait of a Young Boy (Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham), painted in 1474, was probably the lid of a cabinet that included a marble bust and a painted momento mori as well. Thus small, personal portraits of unusual format were being created in the Bellini workshop.
There continues to be a lively debate about the identification of this mysterious pair. What was their relationship? Was she really a "nun of San Secondo?" How are we meant to read the allegorical scenes? Although Michiel helpfully identified the man as Alvise Contarini, we know of some eight men by that name who would have been the appropriate age when the painting was made. Perhaps he was the Alvise who married Daria Quarini in 1481 and who was related to the more famous Pietro Contarini, also the original owner of the palace where Michiel saw the paintings. More intriguingly, who is this placid woman with her hair demurely covered and her shoulders alluringly bare? As mentioned above, every aspect of Alvise’s portrait alludes to fidelity and love, and this, combined with the woman’s dress, had led many commentators to reject Michiel’s description and conclude that she must be Alvise’s wife or mistress, not a nun. At the same time, Michiel’s statement cannot be discounted easily; especially as he was fully aware of the female monasteries in Venice: two of his own sisters were abbesses, one of them Benedictine. Furthermore, his diaries include comments that reveal his awareness of conventual reforms at San Secondo, a site that may be represented in the painting by the small island with a walled building.
There are various paths out of this impasse. First, if Alvise was portrayed posthumously, as the porphyry reverse of his portrait suggests, then the woman may be his widow. The love between them could be eternal, yet the widow could have begun a new life with her involvement at the convent. There she may have enjoyed the privileges of her patrician status and been allowed an elegant and non-too-spartan environment, with fine clothing and many luxuries. The reforms that Michiel noted in his diaries and that led the convent to a stricter rule took place in 1519, some twenty years after the artist’s death. Many other instances of refined, beautiful nuns (and tertiaries) who led seemingly secular lifestyles have now been documented. Of course there are two other possible interpretations of this pair; that their love was clandestine and the portraits were designed to keep it that way; or that the piety of the woman was not in doubt, as the love being offered by Alvise Contarini was not meant to sully her, but rather was offered in the spirit of the Song of Songs: My beloved is like a roe or young hart."
[Adopted from Andrea Bayer 2011]
Possibly Michele Contarini (1543); probably Gabriele Vendramin (1565); Fürstlich Liechtensteinische Gemäldegalerie, Vienna, Austria, 1863 (cat. 1873, no. 1081 [as Antonello da Messina]; cat. 1885, no. 734 [as Antonello da Messina]); Wildenstein, New York from 1961. Acquired by Robert Lehman in November 1967.
Jacopo Morelli. Notizia d’opere di disegno nella prima meta del secolo XVI essistenti in Padova, Cremona, Milano, Pavia, Bergamo, Crema e Venezia: Scritta da un anonimo di quel tempo. Bassano, 1800, p. 84.
G. F. Waagen. Die vornehmsten Kunstdenkmäler in Wien. Vienna, 1866, p. 280.
J. Falke. Katalog der Fürstlich Liechtensteinsche Bildergalerie im Gartenpalais der Rossau zu Wien. Vienna, 1873, p. 125, no. 1081.
Gustavo Frizzoni. Notizia d’opere di disegno pubblicata e illustrate da D. Jacopo Morelli. Bologna, 1884, p. 226.
Theodor von Frimmel. Der Anonimo Morelliano. Vol. 1, Wien, 1888, p. 15.
Wilhelm Bode. Die Fürstlich liechtensteinsche galerie in Wien. Vienna, 1896, p. 70.
Lionello Venturi. Le origini della pittura veneziana 1300–1500. Venice, 1907, pp. 226–227.
Lionello Venturi inAllgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Vol. 1, Leipzig, 1907, pp. 570–571.
Theodor von Frimmel. Blätter für Gemäldekunde. Vol. 3, Wien, 1907, p. 77.
Theodor von Frimmel. "Bemerkungen zu Marc-Anton Michiels notizia d’opere di disegno." Beilage der Blätter für Gemäldekunde 2 (1907), pp. 76-77.
Karl Höss. Fürst Johann II. von Liechtenstein und die bildende Kunst. Vienna, 1908, p. 70.
Jakob Burckhardt. Beiträge zur Kunstgeschichte von Italien. Berlin, 1911, p. 238.
J. A. Crowe G. B. Cavalcaselle. A History of Painting in North Italy. Vol. 2, London, 1912, p. 422 n. 2.
Bernhard Berenson. Catalogue of a collection of Paintings and Some Art Objects. Vol. 1, Philadelphia, 1913, p. 155.
Roberto Longhi. "Piero dei Franceschi e lo sviluppo della pittura veneziana." L'Arte 17 (1914), pp. 216–17.
A[dolfo]. Venturi. "La pittura del Quattrocento." Storia dell'arte italiana. part 4, Vol. 7, Milan, 1915, pp. 42–6, fig. 22.
Theodor von Frimmel. "Bemerkungen zu Jacometto Veneziano." Studien und Skizzen zur Gemäldekunde 2 (1915–16), pp. 18–20, pl. 1.
Georg Gronau. "Zu Jacometto Veneziano." Studien und Skizzen zur Gemäldekunde 2 (1915–16), pp. 48–50.
Aldo Ravà. "Antonello da Messina o Giovanni Bellini?" L'Arte 23 (1920), pp. 279–81, ill. pp. 280, 281.
Aldo Ravà. "Il camerino della antigaglie di Gabriele Vendramin." Nuovo archivio veneto, part 2, 39 (1920), pp. 159–60, 170.
Georg Gronau inAllgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Vol. 18, Leipzig, 1925, p. 264.
Bernard Berenson. "Una santa di Antonello da Messina e la pala di San Cassiano." Dedalo 6 (1925–26), pp. 642–43, ill. p. 650.
Dr. A. Kronfeld. Führer durch die Fürstlich Liechtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie in Wien. Vienna, 1931, p. 147, no. 734.
Bernhard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932, p. 25.
Johann Lauts. "Antonello da Messina." Jahrbuch der kunsthistorischen Sammlungen in Wien, n.s., 7 (1933), pp. 78-79.
Johannes Wilde in "Über einige venezianische Frauenbildnisse der Renaissance." Petrovics Elek Emlékkönyv. Budapest, 1934, pp. 208–9, figs. 127–28.
Raimond van Marle. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. Vol. 15, The Hague, 1934, p. 537 n. 1.
Raimond van Marle. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. Vol. 17, The Hague, 1935, pp. 389–91, fig. 229.
Alfred Scharf. "Rubens's Portraits of Charles V and Isabella." The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs 66 (1935), pp. 260, 265 n. 19.
Bernard Berenson. Pitture italiane del Rinascimento: catalogo dei principali artisti e delle loro opere con un indice dei luoghi. Valori plastici, Milan, 1936, p. 22.
Carlo Gamba. Giovanni Bellini. Milan, 1937, pp. 82–84, fig. 75.
Alfred Stix and Erich von Strohmer. Die Fürstlich Liechtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie in Wien. Vienna, 1938, p. 89, fig. 2.
Heinrich Leporini. "Stix, Alfred, und Erich V. Strohmer, Die Fürstlich Liechtensteinsche Gemäldegalerie in Wien." Pantheon 22 (1938), p. 301, ill. p. 298.
Erich von Strohmer. Die Gemäldegalerie des Fürsten Liechtenstein in Wien. Vienna, 1943, p. 89, fig. 2.
Luigi Servolini. Jacopo de' Barbari. Padua, 1944, pp. 28–30, pls. 1, 2.
Otto Pächt. Italian Illuminated Manuscripts from 1400 to 1550. Exh. cat.Oxford, 1948, p. 23, no. 69.
Kunstmuseum Luzern. Meisterwerke aus den Sammlungen des Fürsten von Liechtenstein. Exh. cat.Luzern, 1948, p. 4, no. 17.
Luitpold Dussler. Giovanni Bellini. Vienna, 1949, p. 79.
Martin Davies. The Earlier Italian Schools. London, 1951, pp. 201, 202.
Giorgio Vigni. Tutta la pittura di Antonello da Messina. Milan, 1952, p. 31.
Stefano Bottari. Antonello. Milan, 1953, p. 77.
Giles Robertson. "A Madonna by Jacometto Veneziano." The Burlington Magazine 95 (June 1953), p. 208.
National Gallery, London. The National Gallery 1938–1954. London, 1955, p. 99.
E. K. Waterhouse. "The Italian Exhibition at Birmingham." The Burlington Magazine 97 (September 1955), p. 295 n. 1.
Bernard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Venetian School. Vol. 1, London, 1957, p. 34.
Royal Academy of Arts. Italian Art and Britain. Exh. cat.London, 1960, pp. 129–30, under no. 351.
Martin Davies. The Earlier Italian Schools. 2nd. London, 1961, pp. 257, 259.
Nationalmuseum. Konstens Venedig: utställning anordnad med anledning av Konung Gustaf VI Adolfs åttioårsdag: Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 20 oktober 1962–10 februari 1963. Exh. cat.Stockholm, 1962, pp. 73–74, undre no. 69.
Fritz Heinemann. Giovanni Bellini e Belliniani. Venice, 1962, p. 239, no. V.142, pl. 623.
Giorgio Vigni. All the Paintings of Antonello da Messina. New York, 1963, p. 34.
John G. Johnson Collection. Catalogue of Italian Paintings. Philadelphia, 1966, pp. 39–40, under no. 243.
Michelangelo Muraro. Carpaccio. Florence, 1966, pp. 93–95, pl. CCLXII.
S. J. Freedberg. "Andrea and Lucrezia: Two New Documents in Paint for Their Biography." Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 1 (1966), pp. 24, 26 n. 18.
John Pope-Hennessy. The Portrait in the Renaissance. London, 1966, pp. 211–12, 321–22 n. 9, ill. 213 figs. 235, 237.
F.R. Shapley. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection, Italian Schools, XV–XVI Century. London, 1968, p. 48.
Giordana Mariani Canova. La miniatura veneta del rinascimento 1450–1500. Venice, 1969, pp. 44, 112.
Jonathan J. G. Alexander. "A Manuscript of Petrarch's Rime and Trionfi." Victoria and Albert Museum Yearbook 2 (1970), pp. 36–37, fig. 14.
Federico Zeri Elizabeth E. Gardner in "A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Venetian School." Italian Paintings. Greenwich, CT, 1973, p. 34.
Thomas Hoving inThe Chase, the Capture: Collecting at the Metropolitan. New York, 1975, p. 64.
George Szabó. The Robert Lehman Collection: A Guide. New York, 1975, pp. 54–56, colorpls. 54, 56.
Angela Dillon Bussi. "Due ritratti di Raffaele Zovenzoni, e alcuni ipotesi sul Maestro degli Uffici di Montecassino, il Maestre delle Sette Virtù, Jacometto e Laura Padovano." Libri & Documenti 1 (1975), pp. 34-36. Fig. 16.
George Goldner. "A Late Fifteenth Century Venetian Painting of a Bird Hunt." The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 8 (1980), pp. 30, 30 n. 22, 32, figs. 13, 15.
Fiorella Sricchia Santoro inAntonello da Messina. Exh. cat.Rome, 1981, p. 208.
Lilian Armstrong. Renaissance Miniature Painters and Classical Imagery. London, 1981, p. 49, figs. 132–33.
George Szabó. XVIII Century Venetian Drawings from the Robert Lehman Collection. Exh. cat.New York, 1982, no pagination, fig. 5.
Liana Castelfranchi Vegas. Italia e Fiandra nella pittura del quattrocento. Milan, 1983, pp. 185, 188. Fig. 105.
George Szabo. Masterpieces of Italian Drawing in the Robert Lehman Collection. New York, 1983, pp. ix, 50–51, fig. 16.
John Pope-Hennessy assisted by Laurence B. Kanter inThe Robert Lehman Collection. Vol. 1, Italian Paintings. New York, 1987, p. 243, no. 97.
Lorne Campbell. Renaissance Portraits: European Portrait-Painting in the 14th, 15th and 16th Centuries. New Haven, 1990, p. 254 n. 124.
Angelica Dülberg. Privatporträts: Geschichte und Ikonologie einer Gattung im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert. Berlin, 1990, pp. 41–2, 124–25, 236–37 no. 184, figs. 76, 77, 79–80.
Philippe de Montebello. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York, 1994, p. 352.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 74.
Angela Dillon Bussi. Libri & documenti: Archivio storico civico e biblioteca trivulziana 21 (1995), pp. 34–36, fig. 16.
Alison Luchs. Tullio Lombardo and Ideal Portrait Sculpture in Renaissance Venice, 1490–1530. Cambridge, 1995, pp.22, 60, 129 n. 136, fig. 26.
Peter Humfrey. Painting in Renaissance Venice. New Haven, 1995, p. 286.
Peter Humfrey. Lorenzo Lotto. New Haven, 1997, p. 11.
Peter Humfrey in "Jacometto Veneziano." Encyclopedia of Italian Renaissance and Mannerist Art. Vol. 1, London, 2000, p. 822.
David Alan Brown inVirtue and Beauty: Leonardo's "Ginevra de' Benci" and Renaissance Portraits of Women. Ed. David Alan Brown. Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2001, no. 19b.
David Alan Brown inVirtue and Beauty: Leonardo's Ginevra de' Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women. Exh. cat.Washington, D.C., 2001, pp. 154–57, no. 19B, ill. p. 156.
Elfriede Regina Knauer. "Portrait of a Lady? Some Reflections on Images of Prostitutes from the Later Fifteenth Century." Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 47 (2002), pp. 95, 95 n. 3, 97 n. 13.
Allison Levy in "Framing Widows: Mourning, Gender and Portraiture in Early Modern Florence." Widowhood and Visual Culture in Early Modern Europe. Burlington, VT, 2003, pp. 229–30, fig. 13.13.
Stephen Lloyd. "Italian Paintings in the Scottish Collections of the Dukes of Buccleuch & Queensberry." Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History 8 (2003), pp. 43–44.
Peter Humfrey inThe Age of Titian: Venetian Renaissance Art from Scottish Collections. Exh. cat., Royal Scottish Academy Building. Edinburgh, 2004, no. 65, Fig. 79.
Peter Humfrey, Sir Timothy Clifford, Aidan Weston-Lewis, and Michael Bury. The Age of Titian: Venetian Renaissance Art from Scottish Collections. Exh. cat.Edinburgh, 2004, p. 68, fig. 79.
Till-Holger Borchert. Memling's Portraits. Exh. cat., Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid. Ghent, 2005, p. 81. Fig. 75.
Rosella Lauber in "Opera perfettissima. Marcantonio Michiel e la notizia d'opere di disegno." Il collezionism a Venezia e nel Veneto ai tempi della Serenissima. Venice, 2005, pp. 96–97, 98–99, fig. 20.
Paula Nuttall in "Memling and the European Renaissance Portrait." Memling's Portraits. Exh. cat.Ghent, 2005, pp. 81, 91 n. 49, fig. 75.
Bernard Aikema. Il Collezionismo a Venezia e nel Veneto ai tempi della Serenissima . Venice, 2005, pp. 91-92, 113.
Mauro Lucco inAntonello da Messina: l'opera completa. Milan, 2006, pp. 25, 334 no. 70, ill. p. 335.
Allison Levy. Re-membering Masculinity in Early Modern Florence: Widowed Bodies, Mourning, and Portraiture. Burlington, 2006, pp. 75-76. Pl. 3.18.
Eveline Baseggio Universitá Ca' Foscari di Venezia. Jacometto Veneziano tra paralleli e confronti. 2007, pp. 154–87, 193–97, no. 1b, fig. 31.
Peter Humfrey. "Jacometto Veneziano." Grove Art Online. 2007, no pagination [http://www.oxfordartonline.com/subscriber/article/grove/art/T043117?q=jacometto+veneziano&source=oao_gao&source=oao_t118&source=oao_t234&source=oao_t4&search=quick&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit].
Bodo Brinkmann. Cranach. Exh. cat.London, 2007, p. 51.
Andrea Bayer inArt and Love in Renaissance Italy. Ed. Andrea Bayer. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2008, pp. 265-268, no. 123b.
Nancy Edwards inArt and Love in Renaissance Italy. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2008, pp. 265–68, no. 123b, ill. p. 267.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Jacometto Veneziano: Portrait of Alvise Contarini (recto) and a tethered roebuck (verso); portrait of a woman (recto) and scene in grisaille (verso) (1975.1.85, 86)." Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York, 2008.
Keith Christiansen and Stefan Weppelmann. The Renaissance Portrait: From Donatello to Bellini. Exh. cat.New York, 2011, pp. 346-349, no. 152b.
Stefano Zuffi. Tiziano: Amor Sacro e Amor Profano. Milan, 2012, p. 130.
Antonio Mazotta. ""Ritratti" veneziani per Jacometto, Marco Basaiti e Andrea Previtali." Prospettiva. Vol. 147, 2014, pp. 150-158.
Eveline Baseggio. "A New Interpretation of Jacometto’s ‘Most Perfect Work’: Parallels in Portraits by Giovanni Bellini and Leonardo da Vinci." Examining Giovanni Bellini: An Art "More Human Than Divine". Turnhout, 2015, pp. 143-167.
Jacometto (Jacometto Veneziano) (Italian, active Venice by ca. 1472–died before 1498)
ca. 1485–95
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Robert Lehman Collection is one of the most distinguished privately assembled art collections in the United States. Robert Lehman's bequest to The Met is a remarkable example of twentieth-century American collecting.