BARBARI, Jacopo de'

The reverse side of the Portrait of a Man is painted by the same artist, it represents an allegory. Two figures stand in the centre of an unfurnished interior, nude except for wispy, transparent veils. Traditionally, they are interpreted as lovers. The painting combines an allegorical scene containing vanitas features with an exquisite still-life in the foreground, an allusion to the creative power of painting.

The erotic connotation evokes depictions of Adam and Eve at the moment of the Fall as well as the theme of Death and Maiden, which became better known in the 1520s through Hans Baldung Grien.

This painting is notable for the rich, saturated colours in Christ’s robe and cloak.

This engraving, an allegory of Vanitas, represents a sense of modeling that emphasizes the contrast of light and shade on the body.

In 1500, the Venetian artist and printer Jacopo de Barbari had Anton Koberger of Nuremberg print a woodcut of Venice in which he had depicted all the buildings, gardens and islands of Venice at that time in minute detail. As a result, Barbari’s plan gives us a precise idea of the appearance of Venice in about 1500.

This detail of the map of Venice shows the region at the northern edge of the city (the Rialto area).

This detail of the map of Venice shows the oldest part of the Arsenal, dating back to 1104. Already in the first decade of the 14th century, the increase in the bulk of galleys required the widening of the canal which links the shipyard to the sea.

This detail of the map of Venice shows the San Marco area.

Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli (sometimes Paciolo) (¹⁴⁴⁶⁄₇-1517) was an Italian mathematician and Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and seminal contributor to the field now known as accounting. He was also called Luca di Borgo after his birthplace, Borgo Santo Sepolcro, Tuscany.

The table is filled with geometrical tools: slate, chalk, compass, a dodecahedron model and a rhombicuboctahedron half-filed with water is hanging in the air. Pacioli is demonstrating a theorem by Euclid.

This painting dates to about 1505-06, when Jacopo was working in Wittenberg for the dukes of Saxony. The portrait reflects the strong influence of D�rer, but its monochrome colour scheme - dark gray cap and coat against a dark background - is unlike anything in Italy or Germany at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

This portrait shows a combination of stylistic features relating to both Venetian and German traditions. Accordingly, it was first attributed to northern Italian painters, more specifically to Bartolomeo Veneto, then German artists, specifically to Bernhard Strigel. More recently, the attribution to Jacopo de’ Barbari has gained general acceptance.

The Venetian Jacopo de’ Barbari worked at various princely courts north of the Alps between 1500 and his death. It is known that while he was still in Venice he was already interested in northern European culture. The present painting may date a time when he was working on his famous woodcut view of Venice.

The sitter of the portrait has not been identified. The man with the blond hair and northern attire could be a well-to-do German, probably a merchant, one of the German residents in Venice. The beret and the heavy , fur-lined overcoat are similar to those in D�rer’s portrait of Hans Tucher.

The reverse side of the panel is painted by the same artist, it represents an allegory.

Barbari was the first Italian Renaissance artist of note to travel to the German and Netherlandish courts. He probably received training with Alvise Vivarini in Venice in the 1490s. His best-known painting is the Still Life with a Dead Partridge of 1504, a trompe l’oeil probably made for one of the palaces of the Saxon dukes.

This Still-Life with Partridge, Gauntlet and Bolt of a Crossbow is the earliest independent still-life in the European painting. It is one of those paintings that mislead the unprepared viewer by displaying the wall on which these objects have been hung. It is likely that the painting was cleverly integrated into the room of a hunting lodge where it was intended to provide amusement to the hunting party. Nowadays we would hardly be deceived by such a painting technique. At the time, however, it was radically new and people’s habits of perception had been formed by less illusionist paintings. Barbari’s still-life is akin to extremely precise studies of nature by contemporary German artists such as D�rer and Lucas Cranach the Elder. It has therefore been suggested that the Italian artist was influenced by D�rer.

This painting is also known as The Virgin at the Fountain.