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Portrait of a Woman

ca. 1445
Not on view

The attribution of this fascinating portrait has been much debated. It is unusual both for the plainness of the sitter and the box-like character of the setting. Was it intended to have funerary connotations, establishing a commemorative function for the portrait, or is the purpose of the emphatic perspective and the cast shadow to assert the illusionistic "presence" of the sitter? The work thus poses fundamental questions about the uses of portraiture in fifteenth-century Florence. The picture dates about 1445.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Portrait of a Woman
  • Artist: Giovanni di Francesco del Cervelliera (Italian, Florence 1412–1459 Florence)
  • Date: ca. 1445
  • Medium: Tempera on wood
  • Dimensions: 16 1/4 x 12 1/4 in. (41.3 x 31.1 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: The Friedsam Collection, Bequest of Michael Friedsam, 1931
  • Object Number: 32.100.98
  • Curatorial Department: European Paintings

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Three Miracles of Saint Zenobius, Botticelli (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi) Italian, Tempera on wood
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Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement, Fra Filippo Lippi Italian, Tempera on wood
Portrait of a Woman with a Man at a Casement
Fra Filippo Lippi
ca. 1440
Federico Gonzaga (1500–1540), Francesco Francia Italian, Tempera on wood, transferred from wood to canvas and then again to wood
Federico Gonzaga (1500–1540)
Francesco Francia
1510
Christ Crowned with Thorns, Antonello da Messina (Antonello di Giovanni d'Antonio) Italian, Oil, possibly over tempera, on wood
Christ Crowned with Thorns
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The Adoration of the Shepherds, Andrea Mantegna Italian, Tempera on canvas, transferred from wood
The Adoration of the Shepherds
Andrea Mantegna
shortly after 1450

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