Portrait of a Young Man (Raphael)

Portrait of a Young Man

Artist	Raffaello Sanzio
Year	1513–1514
Dimensions	72 cm × 56 cm (28 in × 22 in)
Location	whereabouts unknown since 1945 formerly exhibited at the Czartoryski Museum, Kraków, Poland

Portrait of a Young Man is a painting in oil on panel, probably from 1513–1514, by the Italian High Renaissance Old Master painter and architect Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino better known simply as Raphael.^[1] The painting was stolen by the Nazis from Poland. Many historians regard it as the most important painting missing since World War II.^[2][3]

The subject's identity is unverified, but many scholars have traditionally regarded it as Raphael's self-portrait. The facial features are perceived by specialists as compatible with, if not clearly identical to, the only undoubted self-portrait by Raphael in his fresco The School of Athens at the Vatican, identified as such by Vasari. If it is a self-portrait, no hint is given of Raphael's profession; the portrait shows a richly-dressed and "confidently-poised" young man.^[4]

The painting was brought to Poland, along with Leonardo da Vinci's Lady with an Ermine and many Roman antiquities, by Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski, son of Princess Izabela Czartoryska, on his travels to Italy in 1798.^[3]

The Nazi theft

At the onset of Nazi invasion of Poland in 1939, then family patriarch Prince Augustyn Józef Czartoryski rescued numerous pieces from the Czartoryski Museum, including Portrait of a Young Man, Lady with an Ermine and a Rembrandt masterpiece. The collection was hidden at a residence in Sieniawa, but was later discovered by the Gestapo, working for Hans Frank, Hitler's appointee as the governor of the General Government.^[3] From the collection, these three paintings decorated Frank's residence in Kraków before they were sent to Berlin,^[1] and Dresden, to become part of the Führer's own Collection at Linz, arranged by Hitler's plenipotentiary, Dr. Posse.^[3]

In January 1945, Frank brought the paintings back from Germany to Kraków for his own use at the royal Wawel Castle. This is where Portrait of a Young Man was last seen.^[2] When the Germans evacuated from Kraków later that month ahead of the Soviet offensive, Frank took the paintings with him to Silesia and then to his own villa in Neuhaus. The Americans arrested Frank on May 3, 1945 pending trial for extensive war crimes (he was executed in 1946). The Polish representative at the Allies Commission for the Retrieval of Works of Art located some of the paintings stolen by him, and claimed them on behalf of the Czartoryski Museum. However, Portrait of a Young Man and 843 other artifacts were missing from storage.^[3] In recent times, a book about Nazi plunder by Lynn H. Nicholas and a documentary film by the same title, The Rape of Europa, suggested that if the painting were to reappear today, it would be worth in excess of 100 million US dollars.^[5]

Popular culture

The painting's whereabouts are unknown, although the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs states that it has been known "for years" that the painting survived the war.^[6] However, in the summer of 2012 a false report about the painting's rediscovery appeared in popular media, attributed to an alleged statement made by representative of the Polish Foreign Minister for the restitution of cultural property Wojciech Kowalski. The Polish newsflash was a hoax intended to drum up readership. Soon afterward, the ministry spokesman explained in a public announcement that there are no new leads in regard to the whereabouts of the artwork.^[7]

Painting Portrait of a Young Man is also seen in character Henri Miller's home at the end of a science fiction film called Justice Is Mind. It is meant to resolve the link between suppressed World War II crimes and the present, shared between two of the main characters.^[8]

In the 2014 film The Monuments Men, the painting is shown being destroyed by the Germans. It is shown as a prominent painting in a large cache of stolen art stored in an unidentified cave or mine that German troops set on fire with flame throwers. The scene ends with a close-up of the painting as it starts to bubble and is then consumed by the flames. As an ironic plot twist, during a briefing George Clooney's character is giving to President Harry Truman in a darkened screening room, he projects a picture of the painting on the screen and says that it is believed to have survived the war and that it will eventually be recovered.

See also

• Art theft and looting during World War II
• Nazi plunder
• Looted art

Notes

References

• Houpt, Simon and Julian Radcliffe. (2006). Museum of the Missing: a History of Art Theft. New York: Sterling Publishing. 10-ISBN 1-4027-2829-8, 13-ISBN 978-1-4027-2829-7; OCLC 67375076
• Jones, Roger and Nicholas Penny. (1983). Raphael. New Haven: Yale University Press. 10-ISBN 0-300-04052-0, 13-ISBN 978-0-300-04052-4; OCLC 440831341
• Nicholas, Lynn H. (1994). The Rape of Europa: The Fate of Europe’s Treasures in the Third Reich and the Second World War. New York City: Vintage Books. 13-ISBN 978-0-679-40069-1; OCLC 32531154

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Portrait of a Young Man (Czartoryski Museum).

• Good online history of the painting
• PBS (Oregon Public Broadcasting): The Rape of Europa, 2006 film, aired November 24, 2008

Raphael Early works The Kinnaird Resurrection Baronci Altarpiece St. Sebastian Oddi Altar Solly Madonna Mond Crucifixion Three Graces St Michael Portrait of a Man Connestabile Madonna Madonna and Child The Marriage of the Virgin Vision of a Knight St George Colonna Altarpiece Portrait of Perugino 1 Madonna and Child with the Book Florentine period Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga 2 Portrait of Emilia Pia da Montefeltro 2 Portrait of Guidobaldo da Montefeltro Self-portrait Madonna of the Grand Duke Ansidei Madonna Young Man with an Apple Christ Blessing Madonna Terranuova Madonna of the Goldfinch Madonna of the Meadow Esterhazy Madonna Small Cowper Madonna St George and the Dragon La donna gravida Portrait of Agnolo Doni Portrait of Maddalena Doni Madonna of the Pinks Young Woman with Unicorn Madonna with Beardless St Joseph Saint Catherine of Alexandria Canigiani Holy Family La belle jardinière Deposition of Christ Portrait of a Young Woman Tempi Madonna Madonna Colonna Madonna de Bogota Roman period Portrait of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese La disputa The School of Athens Madonna of Loreto Aldobrandini Madonna Madonna with the Blue Diadem Portrait of a Cardinal Alba Madonna Niccolini-Cowper Madonna The Parnassus Cardinal and Theological Virtues The Prophet Isaiah The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple Portrait of Pope Julius II Madonna of Foligno Madonna with the Fish Triumph of Galatea Sistine Madonna Madonna della seggiola Madonna dell'Impannata Madonna della tenda The Fire in the Borgo The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila Deliverance of Saint Peter The Mass at Bolsena Portrait of Bindo Altoviti The Sibyls Ecstasy of St. Cecilia Portrait of Balthasar Castiglione La donna velata Portrait of Tommaso Inghirami Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila Portrait of Andrea Navagero and Agostino Beazzano Portrait of Cardinal Bibbiena Church of Sant'Eligio degli Orefici Creation of the World Transfiguration Portrait of Pope Leo X with Two Cardinals Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary The Holy Family of Francis I Ezekiel's Vision St. Michael Vanquishing Satan Madonna of the Rose Self-portrait with a friend La fornarina Visitation Portrait of a Young Man Miraculous Draught of Fishes Christ's Charge to Peter Healing of the Lame Man Death of Ananias Stoning of St. Stephen Conversion of the Proconsul Sacrifice at Lystra St Paul in Prison St Paul Preaching in Athens Palazzo Jacopo da Brescia 1 Also attributed to Lorenzo di Credi 2 Attributed