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Provenance

Henry Valentine Stafford Jerningham, 9th Baron of Stafford [d. 1884]; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 30 May 1885, no. 373, as Blanche, daughter of Henry IV of England). James Gurney; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 12 March 1898, no. 7, as Blanche, daughter of Henry IV of England); Cooper.[1] M. de Villeroy, Paris; (sequestered property sale, Galérie Georges Petit, Paris, 28-29 April 1922, no. 34, as School of Vienna, Portrait of a Lady);[2] (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); sold 1923 to Clarence H. Mackay [1874-1938], Roslyn, New York; repurchased 1935 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); purchased 15 December 1936 by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh;[3] gift 1937 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1922
Loan for display with permanent collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1922.
1924
Loan Exhibition of Important Early Italian Paintings in the Possession of Notable American Collectors, Duveen Brothers, New York, 1924, no. 17, as by Pisanello (no. 38, as by Antonio Pisano, in illustrated 1926 version of catalogue).
1935
Fifteenth Century Portraits, M. Knoedler & Co. Inc., New York, 1935, no. I, as Isotta degli Atti, wife of Sigismondo Malatesta da Rimini by Pisanello.
2001
Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's 'Ginevra de' Benci' and Renaissance Portraits of Women, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2001-2002, no. 1, color repro.
2008
El retrato del Renacimiento [Madrid title], Renaissance Faces: Van Eyck to Titian [London title], Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid; National Gallery, London, 2008-2009, no. 7 (Madrid), no. 1 (London), repro.
2010
The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry, The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (2008-2009); The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, not in cat. (shown only in New York).

Technical Summary

The panel supporting the paint surface has been thinned, set into another panel with a 5 mm rim all around, and then cradled. The panel supporting the paint surface has an old, repaired split running from the bottom edge up through the hat to the right of center. Although the present painted surface comes to the edge of this panel, what appear to be the original ground and support occupy a slightly smaller area (48.6 - 48.8 x 31.7 - 32.1 cm) clearly visible in the x-radiograph. The pronounced horizontal crackle within this smaller area does not extend beyond its borders. This crackle pattern and the tear-like appearance of another disturbed area at the bottom left, visible in the x-radiograph, suggest that the ground may have been laid on paper or parchment.

Infrared reflectography reveals what appears to be an underdrawn design delineating the ear, some hairpins, and individual strands of hair in the coil over the lady's ear. These delicate strands follow the line of the coil, rather than forming the horizontal bands of crimping visible on the surface. Traces of an underdrawn brocade pattern were also detected in the robe during examination with infrared reflectography.

Microscopic examination shows extensive repaint.[1] The profile and the eye, nostril, lips, and ear have been repainted, though they seem to correspond to the old outline visible underneath. The gold of the pins is repaint. The hat is totally repainted over heavy damage. The back of the coiffure is totally repainted. The white fur and collar appear to be old, but with some repainted areas. Whereas most of the gold on the robe is new, the abraded blue of the robe is apparently not repainted except for a damage in the left corner. Most of the gold on the beads is new, yet there are residues of old gold underneath. The necklace and belt are apparently made of metallic foil, possibly attached by small nails or brads in the case of the necklace. There are scattered damages in the background, which appears to have been entirely toned over to bring it into conformity with what are presumably later additions at left, right, and top edges.

[1] The paint has not been analyzed to determine whether it is oil or tempera based. However, the present paint layer appears to be oil based, with the texture of the white paint in the hair suggesting the use of an emulsion medium there, according to Kay Silberfeld who undertook the technical examination of the painting.

Bibliography

1923
Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 8(1927):104-105, 152, 206.
1924
Offner, Richard. "A Remarkable Exhibition of Italian Paintings." The Arts 5 (1924): 257, repro. 259.
1925
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. "The Clarence H. Mackay Collection." International Studio 81 (1925): 335-337, repro.
1925
Venturi, Adolfo. "Antonio Pisano of Verona, called Pisanello." The Connoisseur 71 (1925): 196-197, repro. 199.
1925
Venturi, Adolfo. Grandi artisti italiani. Bologna, 1925: 222-226, fig. 77.
1925
Venturi, Adolfo. "Per il Pisanello." L'Arte 28 (1925): 36-37, fig. 1.
1926
Valentiner, Wilhelm R. The Clarence H. Mackay Collection. Italian Schools. New York, 1926: not paginated, no. 1.
1926
Valentiner, W.R. The Clarence H. Mackay Collection. New York, 1926: 1-2, no. 1, as by Pisanello, repro.
1929
Cortissoz, Royal. "The Clarence H. Mackay Collection." International Studio 94 (1929): 32-33.
1929
Hill, George F. Dessins de Pisanello. Paris and Brussels, 1929: 13.
1929
Richter, George Martin. "Pisanello Studies-II." The Burlington Magazine 55 (1929): 139.
1929
Singleton, Esther. Old World Masters in New World Collections. New York, 1929: 99-103, repro.
1930
Martinie, A.-H. Pisanello. Paris, 1930: 25-26, 30, pl. 12.
1930
Valentiner, Wilhelm R., ed. Unknown Masterpieces in Public and Private Collections. London, 1930: n.p., pl. 9.
1931
Venturi, Adolfo. North Italian Painting of the Quattrocento. Emilia. Florence and New York, 1931: 17-18, pl. 5.
1932
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works with an Index of Places. Oxford, 1932: 462.
1933
Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. Translated by Countess Vanden Heuvel and Charles Marriott. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 1:not paignated, pl. 128.
1937
Cortissoz, Royal. An Introduction to the Mellon Collection. Boston, 1937: 16.
1937
Frankfurter, Alfred M. "New Items in the Mellon Collection." Art News 35 (13 February, 1937): 11, repro. 9.
1937
Pantheon 19 (1937): 129, repro.
1940
Degenhart, Bernhard. Antonio Pisanello. Vienna, 1940: 38, fig. 4 (2d ed. Turin, 1945: 39-40, 69, pl. 4.).
1941
Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 27, repro., as by Pisanello.
1941
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 157, no. 23, as by Pisanello.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 239, repro. 170, as by Pisanello.
1945
"Italian Paintings in the Andrew W. Mellon Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington." Connoisseur 115 (1945): repro. 113.
1947
Berenson, Bernard. Letter to Max J. Friedländer. In Maandblad voor beeldende kunsten 23, no. 5 (1947): 100-101, repro.
1949
Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): xi, 13, repro., as by Pisanello.
1949
Ring, Grete. A Century of French Painting 1400-1500. London, 1949: 199, no. 64, pl. 27.
1949
Sterling, Charles. Les peintres primitifs. Paris, 1949: 24, fig. 19.
1951
Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 52-54, repro., as by Pisanello.
1952
Brenzoni, Raffaello. Pisanello pittore. Florence, 1952: 186-188, pl. 76.
1952
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Great Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1952: 40, color repro., as by Pisanello.
1953
Panofsky Erwin. Early Netherlandish Painting: Its Origins and Character. 2 vols. Cambridge, Mass., 1953: 1:82, 171, 392 note 2; 2: pl. 43, fig. 92.
1956
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1956: 8, repro., as by Pisanello.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 55.
1958
Coletti, Luigi. Pisanello. Milan, 1958: 28, no. 23, pl. 39.
1959
Sterling, Charles. "La peinture de portrait à la cour de Bourgogne au début du XVe siècle." Critica d'Arte 6 (1959): 289, 299, 304, 306, 308, 312, fig. 193.
1959
Winkler, Friedrich. "Ein frühfranzösisches Marienbild." Jahrbuch der königlich Preussischen Kunstsammlungen (Jahrbuch der Berliner Museen) 1 (1959): 188-189.
1960
Meiss, Millard, and Colin Eisler. "A New French Primitive." The Burlington Magazine 102 (1960): 234.
1961
Seligman, Germain. Merchants of Art 1880-1960. New York, 1961: 121.
1962
Sindona, Enio. Pisanello. Paris, 1962: 39-40, 123, pl. 137.
1963
Bauch, Kurt. "Bildnisse des Jan van Eyck." Sitzungsberichte der Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften. Jahresheft 1961/1962. Wiesbaden, 1963: 122. Repr. in Kurt Bauch, Studien zur Kunstgechichte. Berlin, 1967: 103.
1963
Châtelet, Albert, and Jacques Thuillier. French Painting from Fouquet to Poussin. Geneva, 1963: 29.
1963
Journet, René. "Deux retables du quinzième siècle à Ternant (Niévre)." Annales littéraires de l'Université de Besançon 49 (Archéologie 14) (1963): 10.
1963
Scheller, Robert W. A Survey of Medieval Model Books. Haarlem, 1963: 111.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 301, repro., as by Pisanello.
1964
Kreuter-Eggemann, Helga. Das Skizzenbuch des `Jaques Daliwe'. Munich, 1964: 32, fig. 41.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 51.
1966
Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 1:72, color repro.
1966
Castelnuovo, Enrico. Il gotico internazionale in Francia e nei Paesi Bassi (I Maestri del Colore). Part 2, Milan, 1966: not paginated, pl. XIV.
1966
Laclotte, Michel. Primitifs français. Paris, 1966: 23, pl. 11.
1966
Troescher, Georg. Burgundische Malerei. Berlin, 1966: 82-84, 386, pls. 71, 72.
1967
Keller, Harald. Italien und die Welt der höfischen Gotik (Sitzungsberichte der wissenschaftlichen Gesellschaft an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt/Main, 3, 1964). Wiesbaden, 1967: 20-21, fig. 15.
1968
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools. 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:349, as by Pisanello.
1968
Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 24-25, color repro.
1968
Meiss, Millard. French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Boucicaut Master. London, 1968: 153.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 45, repro.
1972
Bialostocki, Jan, et al. Spätmittelalter und beginnende Neuzeit (Propyläen Kunstgeschichte). Berlin, 1972: 189, no. 49, fig. 49.
1972
Chiarelli, Renzo. L'Opera completa del Pisanello. Milan, 1972: 96, no. 79, repro.
1974
Meiss, Millard. French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Limbourgs and their Contemporaries. New York, 1974: 228, 246-247, 281, 471, 474, fig. 606.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 134, repro.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 1250, no. 110, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 161, repro.
1986
Hand, John Oliver and Martha Wolff. Early Netherlandish Painting. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, 1986: 90-97, repro. 91.
2001
Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's Ginevra de' Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2001-2002: no. 1.
2004
Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 72-73, no. 53, color repro.
2006
Takács, Imre, ed. Sigismundus rex et imperator: Kunst und Kultur zur Zeit Sigismunds von Luxemburg 1387-1437. Exh. cat. Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest; Musée national d'histoire et d'art, Luxembourg. Mainz, 2006: 137, fig. 23 (French edition: 136-137, fig. 23).
2011
Rubin, Patricia. "Understanding Renaissance Portraits." In Keith Christiansen and Stefan Weppelmann, eds. The Renaissance Portrait from Donatello to Bellini Keith Christiansen and Stefan Weppelmann. Exh. cat. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Bode Museum, Berlin 2011: 21, 31, fig. 12.
2019
Der Meister von Heiligenkreuz. Exh. cat. Kunst Historisches Museum, Vienna. Vienna, 2019: 41 fig. 19, 42, 45 n. 50.

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