Lucrezia Sommaria

c. 1510

Ridolfo Ghirlandaio

Artist, Florentine, 1483 - 1561

Shown from the waist up, a pale-skinned young woman with tawny-brown hair wears a sapphire-blue gown in this vertical portrait painting. Her body is angled slightly to our right, and she turns her head back to our left to gaze down in that direction with dark blue eyes under thin brows. A delicate wash of petal pink tinges her cheeks on either side of a slender nose over small, pale rose lips, which are closed. Shadows mark the hollows of the temples in her high forehead, the hollows of her high cheeks within her broad face, and the corners of her eyes. Her hair is coiled and wound round with a blue ribbon, which together cross over the top of her head. Her gown has voluminous, puffy sleeves and a low, squared neckline edged with black. The vertically pleated white chemise under her gown covers her chest, and a white cuff peeks out from the sleeve we see. That arm, on our left, rests in front of her on a slate-blue ledge. She holds a tightly folded piece of flax-brown fabric clutched in that hand. Black letters on the face of the ledge read, “LVCRETIAE.SVMARIAE.EFFIGIES.”

Media Options

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On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 20

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel

  • Credit Line

    Widener Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 62.9 x 45.7 cm (24 3/4 x 18 in.)
    framed: 94 x 78.7 x 7.6 cm (37 x 31 x 3 in.)

  • Accession

    1942.9.23

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Probably aquired 1899 in Italy by (Haskard and Co., Florence) for (Thomas Agnew and Sons, London); on joint account with (Charles Fairfax Murray, London); sold 1899 to Peter A.B. Widener, Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania; inheritance from Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park; gift 1942 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1899

  • Twenty Selected Pictures by Italian Masters, Thos. Agnew and Sons, London, 1899, as by Franciabigio.

2001

  • Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's 'Ginevra de' Benci' and Renaissance Portraits of Women, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2001-2002, no. 38, color repro.

Bibliography

1900

  • Catalogue of Paintings Forming the Private Collection of P. A. B. Widener. Ashbourne, near Philadelphia. II: Early English and Ancient Paintings. Paris, 1900: no. 191, as by Franciabigio.

1901

  • Venturi, Adolfo. Storia dell’arte italiana. 11 vols. Milan, 1901-1940: 9, part 1(1925):507-511, as by Michele di Ridolfo.

1916

  • Berenson, Bernard, and William Roberts. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: Early Italian and Spanish Schools. Philadelphia, 1916: unpaginated, repro.

1923

  • Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro.

1931

  • Venturi, Lionello. Pitture italiane in America. Milan, 1931: no. 341, as by Domenico Puligo.

  • Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 136, repro.

1932

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932: 227.

1933

  • Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. 3 vols. New York and Milan, 1933: 3:pl. 449.

1936

  • Berenson, Bernard. Pitture italiane del rinascimento. Milan, 1936: 195.

1942

  • Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 5.

1948

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 18, repro.

1963

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Florentine School. 2 vols. London, 1963: 1:79.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 57.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 50, repro.

1972

  • Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 83, 646.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 152, repro.

1979

  • Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:89-91; 2:pl. 60, as by Andrea del Brescianino.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 182, no. 201, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 174, repro.

2001

  • Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's Ginevra de' Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women. Exh. cat. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2001-2002: no. 38.

2002

  • Quodbach, Esmée. "The Last of the American Versailles: The Widener Collection at Lynnewood Hall." Simiolus 29, no. 1/2 (2002): 94.

Inscriptions

lower center on parapet: .LVCRETIAE.SVMARIAE.EFFIGIES.

Wikidata ID

Q20175200

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