Gallery Label Some of the most distinguished female portraits produced in Florence in the third quarter of the fifteenth century seem to have originated in the workshop of Antonio and Piero del Pollaiuolo. The present portrait is ascribed to Piero del Pollaiuolo on the strength of its similarity to six panels of Virtues painted for the Mercanzia. The paint surface is much damaged, and the background, the dress, and the surrounding frame have been extensively restored.
Notes Stylistically this painting closely resembles three other profile portraits attributed to the Pollaiuoli (Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan; Gemäldegalerie, Berlin; Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence).
Provenance Francis Richard Wemyss-Charteris-Douglas, 10th Earl of Wemyss and March, Gosford House, Longniddry, Haddingtonshire (by 1863–d. 1914); his son, Hugo Richard Wemyss-Charteris-Douglas, 11th Earl of Wemyss and March, Gosford House (1914–d. 1937); his son, Francis David Wemyss-Charteris-Douglas, 12th Earl of Wemyss and March, Gosford House (1937–38); [Knoedler, New York, 1939; sold to Harkness]; Edward S. Harkness, New York (1939–d. 1940; life interest to his widow, Mary Stillman Harkness, 1940–d. 1950)
Exhibition History London. British Institution. 1863, no. 52 (as an Italian Lady by Fra Fillipo Lippi, lent by Lord Elcho).
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Winter Exhibition," 1886, no. 172 (as Italian School, lent by the Earl of Wemyss).
New York. M. Knoedler & Co.. "Italian Renaissance Portraits," March 18–April 6, 1940, no. 4 (as by Antonio del Pollaiuolo, lent anonymously).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Harkness Memorial Exhibition," October 12, 1951–January 1, 1952, no catalogue.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art Treasures of the Metropolitan," November 7, 1952–September 7, 1953, no. 78 (as by Antonio del Pollaiuolo).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Florentine Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum," June 15–August 15, 1971, no catalogue.
Washington. National Gallery of Art. "Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's Ginevra de' Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women," September 30, 2001–January 6, 2002, no. 6 (as by Antonio del Pollaiuolo).
References Georg Gronau. Journal entry . July 10, 1927 [see Ref. Harkness n.d.], attributes it to the artist who executed female profile portraits in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, and the Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan.Excerpt from typed Harkness Catalogue . n.d., calls it "probably the likeness of Marietta Strozzi," and quotes the attributions of Gronau [see Ref. 1927], Venturi [see Ref. 1938], Suida, and Morassi [see Refs. n.d.].Art News 38 (March 16, 1940), pp. 6–8, ill., attributes it to Antonio del Pollaiuolo and dates it about 1470, comparing it to the Berlin and Milan portraits, which he attributes to the same artist.Italian Renaissance Portraits . Exh. cat., M. Knoedler & Co. New York, 1940, p. 7, no. 4, fig. 4, attributes it to Antonio del Pollaiuolo and mentions an old exhibition label on the back of the panel [see Notes].Antonio e Piero del Pollaiolo . Florence, 1944, p. 78, calls it apparently a nineteenth-century copy of the Milan portrait.Art News 50 (October 1951), p. 43, ill. (before and after restoration).Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 10 (October 1951), p. 56, ill. p. 61, attributes it to Antonio del Pollaiuolo.Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1952, p. 224, no. 78, colorpl. 78, as by Antonio del Pollaiuolo.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, part 2 (January 1954), ill. p. 13.Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Florentine School . London, 1963, vol. 1, p. 179, attributes it to Piero del Pollaiuolo.Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Florentine School . New York, 1971, pp. 124–25, ill., attribute it to Piero del Pollaiuolo, based on its similarity to the Milan, Berlin, and Florence portraits; suggest the Florence and MMA portraits were painted at the same time, possibly about 1470; note the sitter's resemblance to a marble bust of Marietta Strozzi by Desiderio da Settignano (Bodemuseum, Berlin).Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections . Cambridge, Mass., 1972, pp. 168, 529, 608.Firenze, 1470–1480: Disegni dal Modello . Pisa, 1975, pp. 21, 43–44 n. 38, date the MMA and Florence portraits later than the one in Milan.The Metropolitan Museum of Art . New York, 1980, pp. 227, 233, fig. 403 (color).Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 38 (Summer 1980), pp. 61–63, fig. 52 (color), state that Piero del Pollaiuolo, rather than Antonio, "is the more probable author"; compare it to the Berlin, Milan, and Florence portraits, dating the group about 1470–85.The Paintings of Domenico Veneziano, ca. 1410–1461: A Study in Florentine Art of the Early Renaissance . New York, 1980, p. 180, under no. 52.Museo Poldi Pezzoli: dipinti . Milan, 1982, pp. 151–52, under no. 186.The Portrayal of Love: Botticelli's 'Primavera' and Humanist Culture at the Time of Lorenzo the Magnificent . Princeton, 1992, p. 132, fig. 19.I Pollaiolo . Florence, 1994, pp. 105–6, no. 20, ill.in Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's Ginevra de' Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women . Exh. cat., National Gallery of Art. Washington, 2001, pp. 115–17, no. 6, ill. (color), attributes it to Antonio del Pollaiuolo and dates it to the early 1470s, earlier than the works in Berlin and Milan, observing that the group shows the evolution of a portrait type developed by Antonio.in Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century . Washington, 2003, p. 594 n. 41, metions it with works that "probably belong to Piero's oeuvre".Journal of the Scottish Society for Art History 8 (2003), p. 76, fig. 4.in Art and Love in Renaissance Italy . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2008, p. 103, fig. 65.
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