Portrait of a Young Lady
Florentine Artist
Basic information
- ID
- Ж-126
- Author
- Florentine Artist
- Name
- Portrait of a Young Lady
- Date of creation
- 2d half of the 15th c.
- Technique
- tempera painting
- Material
- wood tempera
- Dimensions (height x width, cm)
- 34.5 x 35.5
Additionally
- Type
- painting
- Genre
- portraiture
- Plot
- Portrait
- Exposition
- Potocki Palace
Information about author
Object description
Compared to male portraits of that time, female profile portraits were more conventional, with a stronger emphasis on decorative elements. The silhouettes were refined, delicate, and rendered graphically. The delicate faces are devoid of subtle shading as if cut out of paper. Patterns on dresses, necklaces, or hairnets appeared as flat applications along the contour of the half-figure. The linear and ornamental stylisation of the living form reached its pinnacle in these portraits, reminiscent of late Gothic royal portraits. These works stylistically resemble wallpapers and cassone. The individual facial features barely emerged through the conventional stereotype of refined femininity; jewellery and cosmetics deprive them of individuality. Female portraits of that time demanded not likeness but conformity to the ideal of beauty cultivated in aristocratic circles. The image became more refined, and individuality was expressed very weakly. Therefore, the profile composition persisted in such artworks for a long time. Early female portraits, like male ones, were commemorative but were unlikely to be intended for family galleries. Florentines could commission them following courtly customs on the occasion of wedding celebrations; hence these were depictions of brides or newlyweds. They could be performed after a wedding contract. This painting features a bust portrait of a young woman in profile, facing left, her light hair tied back with a brown ornamented ribbon. The woman is dressed in a dark gown with a gold floral pattern. She wears a golden necklace and strings of pearls around her neck. The author used a conventional landscape with mountains, a lake and trees as a background.
Legal regulation
Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery
