Portrait of a Woman
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
- 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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