Portrait of a Man

Sterbini, Rome.{1} Edward Hutton [1875-1969], London, after 1921.{2} (E. and A. Silberman Gallery, New York) by 1941;{3} Mr. Booth Tarkington, Indianapolis in 1941; purchased by the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1958 with the James E. Roberts Fund (58.53). {1} Probably Giulio Sterbini [d. 1911], an art collector who amassed a considerable collection of Italian art. This painting does not, however, appear in Adolfo Venturi, La Galleria Sterbini in Roma, saggio illustrativo, Rome 1906. {2} It is known that Hutton, the noted Italian travel writer, began collecting Italian pictures in 1921, see David Platzer, "Edward Hutton," Apollo, March 1996, p. 43. The names Sterbini and Hutton associated with this painting have not been verified as previous owners, but are given in Rodolfo Pallucchini I Vivarini (Antonio, Bartolomeo, Alvise), Venice 1961, p. 67. Pallucchini attributed this painting to Alvise Vivarini, perhaps based on a curious error in Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, Venetian School, volume 1, New York, 1957, who lists this painting twice: once as Mocetto, "Bust of Youth", plate 344 (homeless); and again as Vivarini, "Bust of Youth with round cap," not illustrated (Mrs. Booth Tarkington)." Correspondence in Historical File (58.53) acknowledges this confusion. {3} Correspondence between Silbermann and Tarkington's secretary, dated November 1941, in Historical File (58.53)