Abstract
Because the sitter wears a red cloak, Jan van Eyck's portrait in Viennais believed to represent a cardinal. Since the seventeenth century, when Peter Stevens identified this man as the cardinal of S. Croce, the painting has been assumed to depict Nicolo Albergati, who held that title. By drawing primarily upon the history of prelatial costume and its iconographic importance to Renaissance portraiture, this essay maintains, however, that the Vienna painting does not represent Nicolo Albergati or any other cardinal. Though the iconographic case is not the last word (in the absence of supporting written documentation), it does raise issues regarding costume and insignia that should stimulate debate of some long-cherished assumptions.
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