Portrait of Virginia de' Medici (1568-1615)

The young woman portrayed here is Virginia de' Medici (1568-1615), daughter of Grand Duke Cosimo I of Tuscany. She is dressed in opulent clothes and sumptuous jewelry, indicating her status as a member of one of the wealthy, prominent families in Florence. Beside a pearl ensemble with a single-strand necklace of large pearls, matching earrings, and pearls woven into her hair, she wears a large collar with intricate gold segments decorated with pearls and gemstones. There are at least four versions of this portrait; one that is seemingly nearly identical in style to the Walters' portrait was on the market in 2016 and attributed to the Florentine painter Giovanni Maria Butteri (1540-1606), who worked with Alessandro Allori. Butteri's best known portrait is a group portrait dated 1574 of several members of the Medici family; the hard surfaces are very similar to those in the present painting.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Marquess Filippo Marignoli, Rome and Spoleto, until 1898 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Marquess Francesco Marignoli, 1898 [mode of acquisition unknown]; Don Marcello Massarenti Collection, Rome, 1899 [mode of acquisition unknown] [1900 catalogue supplement: no. 40, as Bronzino]; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1902, by purchase; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.