Antonello da Messina (c.1430-1479)
Ritratto di giovane (Portrait of a Young Man)
c.1475–1480
Tempera and oil on panel, 33 x 24.8 cm
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Attributed to Antonello da Messina.
Shown from the chest up, a clean shaven, young man with pale, rosy skin and curly, mahogany-red hair, looks at or toward us against a black background in this vertical portrait painting. His body is angled to our left, and he turns his face slightly to look our way with sienna-brown eyes under curved eyebrows. He has a long, prominent nose and small thin pink lips. His shoulder length hair curls tightly around his face and covers his ears. He wears a tomato-red shirt with a high collar trimmed with white. (NGA)