FG FINE ART LTD
Pieter de Kempeneer,
also known as ‘Pedro de Campaña’
(attributed to)
Brussels, 1503 - 1580
In his study, Micha Leeflang reexamines the Portrait of a Man with a Skull (c. 1540), formerly in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and long attributed to Lorenzo Lotto. Through stylistic comparison and technical analysis, he argues that the painting reflects a synthesis of Netherlandish portrait traditions and Italian materials and techniques. The memento mori motif, the sitter’s three-quarter pose, and the expressive treatment of the hands point to a Northern-trained artist active in Italy. Leeflang therefore proposes a new attribution to the Flemish painter Pieter de Kempeneer (Pedro de Campaña), suggesting the work belongs to his Italian period around 1535–1540.
Portrait of a man with a skull
1540 c.
Tempera on panel, 71.8 x 51.5 cm
PROVENANCE
London, Dowdeswell & Dowdeswell, by 1905-06
New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, until 2015
New York, Sotheby’s, 29 January 2015, lot 10
New York, Asbjørn Lunde (1927-2017) collection
Paris, Sotheby’s, 23 March 2023, lot 109
EXHIBITION
Venice, Palazzo Ducale, Lorenzo Lotto, 14th June - 18th October 1953
BIBLIOGRAPHY
R. Fry, Some Recent Acquisitions of the Metropolitan Museum, New York, in “The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs”, 9, May 1906, p. 136
Principal Accessions, in “The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin”, vol. 1, no. 5, April 1906, p. 73
M.H. Bernath, New York und Boston, Leipzig 1912, p. 82
B. Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Oxford 1932, p. 310
B. Berenson, I pittori italiani del rinascimento, Milan 1936, p. 266
H.B. Wehle, The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings, New York 1940, p. 196-197
A. Banti and A. Boschetto, Lorenzo Lotto, Florence 1953, pp. 109, 137
L. Coletti, Lotto, exhibition catalogue, Bergamo 1953, pl. 121a
P. Zampetti, Mostra di Lorenzo Lotto, exhibition catalogue, Venice 1953, p. 149
J. L. Allen and E. E. Gardner, A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York 1954, p. 61
B. Berenson, Lotto, Milan 1955, p. 138,
B. Berenson, Lorenzo Lotto, New York 1956, p. 103
P. Bianconi, Tutta la pittura di Lorenzo Lotto, Milan 1955, p. 77
B.B. Fredericksen and F. Zeri, Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections, Cambridge, Mass. 1972, pp. 234, 527, 605
D. Sutton, Letters of Roger Fry, London 1972, vol. I, p. 245, 246, 251
G.M. Canova, L’opera completa del Lotto, Milan 1975, p. 125
K. Baetjer, European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born in or Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue, New York 1980, vol. I, p. 97, vol. II p. 122
F. Zeri and E.E. Gardner, Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, North Italian School, New York 1986, p. 77
K. Baetjer, European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, By artists born before 1865. A summary catalogue, New York 1995, p. 105-106
E. M. Dal Pozzolo, Lorenzo Lotto. Catalogo generale dei dipinti, Milan 2021, p. 495
In his study, Micha Leeflang proposes a new attribution for the Portrait of a Man with a Skull (c. 1540), a tempera-on-panel painting formerly in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The work, depicting a half-length male figure in three-quarter view accompanied by a skull resting on a table, was traditionally attributed to the Venetian painter Lorenzo Lotto following its acquisition by the museum in 1906. This attribution, accepted by early authorities such as Roger Fry and Bernard Berenson, was first seriously questioned in the mid-twentieth century and has remained the subject of scholarly debate ever since.
Leeflang reassesses the painting through stylistic comparison and technical analysis. While certain elements—such as the poplar panel support, the gypsum-based ground layer, and aspects of the sitter’s attire—suggest an Italian context, the composition and iconography reveal significant affinities with Northern European portraiture. In particular, the sitter’s three-quarter pose, the expressive treatment of the hands, and the contemplative gaze directed away from the viewer are characteristic features of Netherlandish portrait painting of the early sixteenth century. The presence of a skull, functioning as a memento mori, further strengthens this association, as such motifs were especially common in portraits produced in the Netherlands and Germany, while they appear only rarely in Italian portraiture.
Technical examination supports the hypothesis of a Northern-trained painter working in Italy. The painting is executed on a single poplar plank with a gypsum ground and a coloured imprimatura, followed by thinly applied paint layers containing pigments such as lead white, azurite, vermilion, and verdigris. Infrared reflectography reveals minimal underdrawing, limited mainly to contour lines, as well as minor compositional adjustments. The technique reflects Italian workshop practices but differs from the materials typically employed by painters working in the Low Countries, who generally favoured oak panels and chalk grounds.
Leeflang therefore situates the work within the context of the so-called “Romanist” painters—Netherlandish artists who travelled to Italy in the sixteenth century and absorbed the influence of the Italian Renaissance. Several candidates are considered, including Jan Cornelisz. Vermeyen, Jan van Scorel, Jan Sanders van Hemessen, and Michiel Coxie. Although stylistic parallels exist with these artists, differences in technique and documented working practices make their authorship unlikely.
The most convincing attribution, according to Leeflang, is to the Brussels-born painter Pieter de Kempeneer (1503–c.1580), better known in Spain as Pedro de Campaña. Kempeneer spent a significant period in Italy before establishing himself in Seville, and his work often combines Flemish stylistic traditions with Italian materials and pictorial methods. Comparisons with his Portrait of a Lady in the Städel Museum, Frankfurt, and with his self-portrait in the Museo del Prado reveal notable similarities in the modelling of the face, the handling of light and shadow, the treatment of the eyes and beard, and the characteristic three-quarter pose.
On this basis, Leeflang proposes that the Portrait of a Man with a Skull should be regarded as a work from Kempeneer’s Italian period, executed around 1535–1540. The painting thus represents a significant addition to the artist’s early oeuvre and illustrates the complex artistic exchanges between the Low Countries and Italy in the mid-sixteenth century.
A full fact sheet is available on request.
