Attributed to Jean Perréal

Lippmann, Berlin.

J. Dupont, "A Portrait of Louis XII Attributed to Jean Perréal," in The Burlington Magazine, September 1947, vol. lxxxix, No. 534, p. 239, reproduced Plate II A (as anonymous, possibly by Jean Perréal).

Panel is flat, cradled, with two barely perceptible vertical joins running down the panel just to the right and left of center. Picture presents a handsome image with nice retention of impasto, coloration and detail, particularly in the collar and embroidered shirt of the sitter. Slightly discolored retouchings along join, perceptible in the flesh tones mostly from jaw line to beginning of clothing line on chest. Otherwise, paint retention is quite good, especially in details of clothing where small brushstrokes are still decipherable. U.V. reveals a small patch of retouching on the right cheek of the sitter. No other significant retouchings in this well preserved picture. Picture is recommendable and may be hung in present state. In a carved and gilt wood frame with a red velvet lining.
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This painting relates closely to another Portrait of Louis XII in the Royal Collection (RCIN 403431).  That portrait, first ascribed to Jean Perréal in 1947,¹ is now considered to be from the workshop of Perréal.  Another version was published by M. J. Friedländer as by the Master of the Legend of the Magdalene.²

1.  See J. Dupont, op.cit., pp.235-239 passim.
2.  See M.J. Friedländer, Early Netherlandish Painting, vol. XII, New York 1975, reproduced Plate 21, no. 29A.