Portrait of a Noblewoman

Description Turning her gaze towards the spectator with one hand resting on her hip, this noblewoman has a stately, matronly appearance that is intended to express personal discipline and dignity. Her lavish costume-with a scarf tied to her hair, a brocade dress set with pearls and a feather, and jeweled pendants-communicates her social status, as does the column, suggestive of a palatial setting, a compositional device developed during the 16th century to communicate aristocratic status. For more information on this portrait, please see Federico Zeri's 1976 catalogue no. 421, pp. 531-532.

Conservation

Date	Description	Narrative
12/19/1936	Treatment	examined for condition; repaired; varnish removed or reduced
11/13/2001	Examination	examined for condition
11/15/2001	Treatment	filled; lined; loss compensation; surface cleaned; varnish removed or reduced

Provenance Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome [date and mode of acquisition unknown] [1897 catalogue: no. 778, as Portrait of an Actress, by Largillière]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.

Credit Acquired by Henry Walters with the Massarenti Collection, 1902