Jan Gossart (c. 1478–1532), A Man holding a Glove, c. 1530–1532. Oil on oak, 24.5 × 16.5 cm. The National Gallery, London
This small portrait belongs to the final phase of Jan Gossart’s career, when the painter, long active at the Habsburg-Burgundian courts, was producing intimate likenesses of sitters whose identities are now lost. The work is datable to around 1530 by costume and beard style, a conclusion supported by dendrochronological analysis of the oak panel. The sitter wears a dark doublet beneath a fur-lined gown, garments that suggest winter dress, and holds a glove, a conventional emblem of refinement and status.
The handling is somewhat looser than in Gossart’s earlier court portraits, leading scholars to see it as a late work, executed with less of the fastidious finish of his prime. This does not diminish its intensity: the restrained palette, the sombre clothing relieved only by the pale hand and glove, and the close framing of the bust create a striking immediacy.
The patron or circle for which it was painted remains uncertain. In the last years of his career Gossart worked for Mencía de Mendoza, Marchioness of Cenete, one of the most powerful women in the Low Countries. The sitter here may have belonged to her circle, or to another branch of Gossart’s elite clientele.
The painting’s subsequent history is unusually rich. It entered the celebrated collection of Vincenzo II Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, a renowned treasury of early Netherlandish art. From Mantua it passed into the collection of King Charles I of England, was dispersed during the Commonwealth sales, and later restored to the Royal Collection under Charles II.