Portrait of a Man with an Arrow
c. 1470–1475 · Oil on panel · National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
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This print
About this work
- Artist
- Hans Memling (c. 1435–1494)
- Year
- c. 1470–1475
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Original size
- 31.3 × 25.1 cm
- Collection
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC
- Movement
- Northern Renaissance
A man in his thirties with shoulder-length brown hair and a tall black cap is shown half-length against a plain dark blue ground, in a brownish-red coat over a black-and-white striped shirt, holding a single arrow upright between the fingers of his right hand. Hans Memling, the leading portrait painter in Bruges in the later fifteenth century, painted the small panel in about 1470–1475. The sitter is unknown. The arrow may refer to Saint Sebastian, the martyr shot with arrows, or to membership of an archers' guild, both well established in Bruges, or it may be a personal emblem. The panel was in a British private collection until 1895, belonged to Baron Albert Oppenheim in Cologne, and was bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1921 by the New York jeweller Michael Dreicer, but returned to his widow in 1933. The A. W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust bought it in 1936, and it entered the National Gallery of Art in Washington in 1937.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A dark-haired man in a black cap and russet coat holding an arrow against deep blue, small and steady, for a study, hallway or library at 16×24 in black. A navy, warm grey or oxblood wall; it pairs with Self-Portrait at the Age of 34.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Northern Renaissance painting
- Era
- 15th century (c. 1470–1475)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- intimate
- Rooms
- hallway or entryway, study or library, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 16×24. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; natural wood lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is Portrait of a Man with an Arrow in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was Portrait of a Man with an Arrow painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
