Creative Commons License
Portrait of a Lady
(Baroque Europe )
This unidentified, fashionably dressed lady wishes to be represented, above all, as a student of ancient culture. On the table next to a sheet of music is a cabinet with casts of ancient carved gems, which were often collected along with-or instead of-the actual gems; for the serious student, even one such as the sitter who is armed with a magnifying glass, casts bring out details that hard to see in the original carving. Also, they could be duplicated as a set for those with scholarly interests but without the means to acquire the originals. In addition, the lady wears a portrait miniature of a gentleman (her deceased husband, father, or teacher?). The portrait is painted in the new neoclassical style, which emphasizes clearly delineated forms.
For more information on this portrait, please see Federico Zeri's 1976 catalogue no. 428, pp. 539-540.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.
Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 813, as Portrait of a Daughter of Pilker, French School]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
Conservation
| Date | Description | Narrative |
|---|---|---|
| Treatment | filled; inpainted; lined; varnish removed or reduced; x-ray | |
| 7/28/1971 | Treatment | filled; lined; stabilized |
| 11/1/2001 | Treatment | coated; filled; lined; loss compensation; surface cleaned; varnish removed or reduced |
| 11/27/2001 | Examination | examined for condition |
Geographies
Italy, Rome (Place of Origin)
Measurements
Painted surface H: 39 1/16 x W: 29 13/16 in. (99.2 x 75.7 cm)
Credit Line
Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.394