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Portrait of a Woman

mid-16th century
Not on view
Seated in an elaborately decorated folding chair, this young woman is an image of self-possession and demure elegance (note her sidelong glance and the way she holds the linen handkerchief and the gold waist chain). The architectural background appears in many Florentine portraits of the period, complicating the attribution. It has recently been suggested that the picture was painted by the young Francesco Zucchi, who was employed in the decoration of the studiolo (private study) of Francesco de’ Medici in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. An assistant of Vasari, Zucchi later had a Roman career working for Cardinal Ferdinando de’ Medici.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Portrait of a Woman
  • Artist: Italian (Florentine) Painter (possibly Jacopo Zucchi, Florence 1541–1590 Rome)
  • Date: mid-16th century
  • Medium: Oil on wood
  • Dimensions: 38 1/2 x 30 in. (97.8 x 76.2 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931
  • Object Number: 32.100.66
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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