Study for Cardinal Niccolò Albergati

c 1431, 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 a diplomat working under Pope Martin V. He met van Eyck during a peace congress in Antwerp, when the artist portrayed him. It 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. 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 work is a commission; Albergati is shown near full frontal and dressed in the red robe of a cardinal, and his gown is lined with luxurious fur.^[1]

Notes[]

^ 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

[1] Harbison, 42

[1]

v t Jan van Eyck
List of works
Portraits	Portrait of a Man with a Blue Chaperon (c. 1430) Léal Souvenir (1432) Portrait of Cardinal Niccolò Albergati (1432) Portrait of a Man (Self Portrait?) (1433) Arnolfini Portrait (1434) Portrait of Baudouin de Lannoy (c. 1435) Portrait of Jan de Leeuw (1436) Portrait of Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini (c. 1438) Portrait of Margaret van Eyck (1439)
Single religious works	Annunciation, Madrid (c. 1432–1434) St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata (c. 1432–1440) Annunciation, Washington (c. 1434–1436) Madonna of Chancellor Rolin (1435) Lucca Madonna (1436) Virgin and Child with Canon van der Paele (1436) Madonna in the Church (c. 1438–1440) Madonna at the Fountain (1439) Madonna of Jan Vos (1441–1443)
Polyptychs	Ghent Altarpiece (with Hubert van Eyck, completed 1432) Crucifixion and Last Judgement diptych (c. 1430–1440) Dresden Triptych (c. 1437)
Illuminated manuscripts	Turin–Milan Hours ("Hand G", c. 1420)
Drawings	Saint Barbara (1437) Study for Cardinal Niccolò Albergati (c. 1432) Study for a Crucifixion (c. 1440)
Lost	Portrait of Isabella of Portugal (c. 1428–29) Saint Christopher (c. 1460–) Woman Bathing (c. 1434) Vera Icon (Head of Christ) (before 1438) Madonna of Nicolas van Maelbeke (after 1440)
Contested	The Three Marys at the Tomb (c. 1420s) The Fountain of Life (c. 1432) Portrait of a Man with Carnation (1435)
Workshop	Crucifixion (c. 1430–1432) Ince Hall Madonna (after 1434) Christ on the Cross with the Virgin and Saint John (c. 1435) Saint Jerome in His Study (1442)