Portrait of Margherita, Wife of Baldassare Vandergoes

The rich attire of this woman, complete with elaborate jewels and a delicate pocket watch at her waist, declares her privileged social status as do her fan and gesture of lifting her skirts off the dirty pavement. She can be identified as Margherita, wife of the Flemish merchant Baldassare Vandergoes (Baltasar van der Goes), portrayed in the companion full-length portrait (37.660), who had moved to the port city of Ancona on the eastern coast of Italy. While known documents do not identify her family with certainty, it is clear that she is the daughter of a properous local family.

Luigi Primo (also known as Louis Cousin) from Brussels was one of the many Flemish painters who sought the patronage of wealthy Italians, first in papal Rome before coming to Ancona. Although he was also a painter of religious paintings, Flemings in Italy were famous for their ability to imitate reality, as in portraiture, so it is hardly surprising that Vandergoes should have sought the services of his countrynman for this important commission

For the identification of the portraits see Michele Polverari, Per amor di Margherita: Due fiamminghi nell'Ancona del Seicento: il mercante Baldassarre Vandergoes e il pittore Luigi Primo da Bruxelles, (Ancona, il lavoro editorial, 2014).

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. 548, as attributed to van Dyck]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.