Collection

Portrait of Catellano Trivulzio

Bernardino de'Conti

Brooklyn Museum photograph

Object Label

Bernardino de’Conti painted Catellano Trivulzio at age twenty-six with his face in strict profile, as if on an antique medal or coin. The sitter’s splendid velvets, furs, and embroideries are typical trappings of Renaissance Milan’s powerful, affluent class. According to archival documents, Trivulzio was unpopular among his fellow Milanese, perhaps because of his family’s active role in the French occupation of the city from 1499 to 1512.

Caption

Bernardino de'Conti (Italian, Milanese School, documented 1494–1522). Portrait of Catellano Trivulzio, 1505. Tempera and oil on panel, N29 1/8 × 22 1/4 in., 62 lb. (74 × 56.5 cm) frame: 4 1/2 × 54 3/8 × 37 in. (11.4 × 138.1 × 94 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of A. Augustus Healy, 21.141. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Gallery

Not on view

Title

Portrait of Catellano Trivulzio

Date

1505

Geography

Place made: Milan, Italy

Medium

Tempera and oil on panel

Classification

Painting

Dimensions

N29 1/8 × 22 1/4 in., 62 lb. (74 × 56.5 cm) frame: 4 1/2 × 54 3/8 × 37 in. (11.4 × 138.1 × 94 cm)

Inscriptions

Inscribed across top: "CATELLAN TRIVULCIUS ANNORUM 26 1505 DIE 13 MARTII"

Credit Line

Bequest of A. Augustus Healy

Accession Number

21.141

Frequent Art Questions

  • Any egg tempera paintings?

    Oh, let me look into that! Are you an artist? I have found that artists are often interested in materials.
    Sort of! I just came from the library and saw some really amazing egg tempera paintings.
    Many of the religious paintings in the Beaux-Arts Court, where you are, were painted with tempera. In the Renaissance-era, tempera was mixed with egg and that material practice has been used actually since ancient Egypt through the Renaissance until it was eventually replaced with oil paints.
    Oh! Awesome! Why was it replaced?
    Mainly because the effects that can be achieved with oil paints are much greater than with tempera. Artists could achieve more color, depth and contrasts with oil. Oil takes much longer to dry allowing the artist to continually make changes and add layers of color. The surface is often brighter.

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Artists and makers

Bernardino de'Conti

1 work in the collection