Study for Cardinal Niccolò Albergati

Painting by Jan van Eyck

Study for Cardinal Niccolò Albergati is a silverpoint drawing attributed to the Early Netherlandish painter Jan van Eyck, made in preparation for his Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati of 1431. Niccolò Albergati was traditionally identified as the subject of the drawing and portrait, but modern scholarship suggests that Henry Beaufort is more likely to be their subject.^[1]^[2] The drawing is held in the collection of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden.

The drawing, along with the Saint Barbara in the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp and Crucifixion are the three surviving drawings by van Eyck.^{[citation needed]} This work is especially valuable to art historians as it includes notes made to indicate the colors intended for the final oil portrait.

The preparatory study shows an elderly cleric who is visibly aging and imprinted with deep lines below his eyes. The cardinal is shown near full frontal and dressed in the red robe of a cardinal, and his gown is lined with luxurious fur.^[3]

Notes

^ Vale, Malcolm (April 1990). "Cardinal Henry Beaufort and the 'Albergati' Portrait". The English Historical Review. 105 (415): 337–354. doi:10.1093/ehr/CV.CCCCXV.337. JSTOR 570845. Retrieved 13 July 2023.
^ Harriss, G. L. (2004). "Beaufort, Henry [called the Cardinal of England]". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1859. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ Harbison, 42

Sources

Ainsworth, Maryan Wynn. From Van Eyck to Bruegel: Early Netherlandish Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. NY: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009. ISBN 0-8709-9870-6
Borchert, Till-Holger. Van Eyck. London: Taschen, 2008. ISBN 3-8228-5687-8
Conway, Martin. "A Head of Christ by John van Eyck". The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, Volume 39, No. 225, December 1921
Harbison, Craig. Jan van Eyck, The Play of Realism. London: Reaktion Books, 1991. ISBN 0-948462-18-3