WASHINGTON, D.C.- The National Gallery of Art has acquired the oldest known portrait made for wide distribution. The engraving measures around 6 inches by 9 inches and portrays St. Bernardine of Siena, a charismatic Italian Franciscan preacher who developed a huge following in the 1400s. The gallery has the engraving among its rare prints, not on exhibit but available to anyone who telephones the gallery’s Prints and Studies Room. Peter Parshall, the gallery’s curator of old master prints, stated, ’This engraving is an absolutely spectacular impression from the beginnings of European printmaking. Portraits are always somewhat idealized...but in this one there is a real attempt to portray the man. His features were not conventionally attractive, and the image was made when many people who had seen him were still alive.’