Portrait of a Gentleman

Description This unidentified gentleman is dressed in the sober style of the French court around 1550-70. The suggestion of soft velvet, the definition of the hair, the shadow that sets off the profile of the face from the background, and the parapet with a swag pattern are features of the work of Léonard Limosin and his workshop during these years. Limosin was one of the most successful artists working in painted enamel for the French court and the only one who made portraiture a specialty. Painted enamel portraits were more durable than those in tempera or oil.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
2/26/1957	Examination	examined for condition
11/01/2004	Treatment	cleaned; other

Exhibitions

• Exposition Universelle. Paris. 1900.
• Small Northern European Portraits from The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. National Gallery of Art, Washington. 2000.

Provenance Sigismond Bardac Collection, Paris [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Van de Baron Bogaerde, Chateau de Heeswijk, Bois-le-Duc [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Arnold Seligmann Rey & Co., New York [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, [date of acquisition unknown] by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters