Woman Holding an Apple
c. 1550
Painter, Venetian, 1488/1490 - 1576
A striking young woman—with loose, untied hair and sleeves and a richly jeweled but informal gown—returns the viewer’s gaze. In her time, a viewer would have seen her as being in a state of semiundress. She cradles an apple in her hands, which in art often connotes female sexuality.
Despite the painting’s portraitlike format, Titian probably did not depict a specific person here. He and other Venetian artists of the day painted many pictures representing beautiful young women, but it is often unclear whether such pictures are meant to be recognizable portraits of members of contemporary society or idealized images of anonymous beauties. Although the images may reflect Venetian courtesan culture of the period, there is no evidence that real courtesans had themselves portrayed in this way. Rather, such pictures may be interpreted as fanciful portrayals of female beauty, designed to appeal to the eyes of the painting’s owner.
West Building Main Floor, Gallery 23
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on canvas
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 97.8 × 73.8 cm (38 1/2 × 29 1/16 in.)
framed: 123 x 99.4 x 9.8 cm (48 7/16 x 39 1/8 x 3 7/8 in.) -
Accession
1939.1.292
More About this Artwork
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Probably Michel Particelli d'Hémery [1596-1650], Paris; by inheritance to his son-in-law, Louis Phélypeaux de La Vrillière [1599-1681].[1] George Wilbraham, M.P. [1779-1852], Delamere House, near Northwich, Cheshire, by 1829;[2] probably by inheritance to his son, George Fortescue Wilbraham [1815-1885], Delamere House, by 1883;[3] probably by inheritance to his son, Major Hugh Edward Wilbraham, M.B.E. [1857-1930], Delamere House, by 1914;[4] purchased January 1929 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);[5] sold 1938 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[6] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] As first pointed out by Christel Haffner in an unpublished dissertation of 1983, the picture is almost certainly identical with one listed as item 66 in the posthumous inventory (1650) of Particelli, Superintendent of Finance under Louis XIV of France: “Item une autre tableau du Tissien representant une dame venitienne plus qu’à demy corps tenant une grenade” (Another picture by Titian, representing a Venetian woman holding a pomegranate, longer than half-length). When it was inherited soon afterwards by La Vrillière, it was described as “portrait d’une femme tenant une pomme en ses mains ayant une guirlande de fleurs su sa tête” (portrait of a woman holding an apple in her hands, and with a garland of flowers on her head). See Mickaël Szanto, “Venise, Reni et la romanité. La collection de tableaux de Michel Particelli d’Hémery (1650),” in Venise & Paris 1500–1700: La peinture vénitienne de la Renaissance et sa réception en France, ed. Michel Hochmann, Geneva, 2011: 224, 259, 274.
[2] The painting was lent by G. Wilbraham to an exhibition at the British Institution in 1829.
[3] The painting was lent by G.F. Wilbraham to an exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1883.
[4] The painting was lent by H.E. Wilbraham to an exhibition at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in 1914.
[5] The painting was seen at Wilbraham's by Duveen agents in 1927, per the Duveen "Scout book," but at that time Wilbraham indicated he was not interested in selling his pictures. He had changed his mind by October 1928, and received the court order necessary to make the sale on 14 January 1929 (Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Series I.D, General business records, reel 71, box 201: Scouts' books, folder 1: England, "Things seen"; Series II.A, Files regarding works of art, reel 150, box 295: Titian, folder 18: Titian, "Portrait of a Lady," ex H.E. Wilbraham; Series II.A, Files regarding works of art, reel 158, box 303: Weyden, van der - Zurbaran, folder 7: Wilbraham Collection; copies in NGA curatorial files).
[6] Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Series I.D, General business records, reel 54, box 151:
House invoices, 1935-1944; copy in NGA curatorial files. See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1673.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1829
British Institution, London, 1829, no. 161, as Titian's Daughter.
1883
Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and by Deceased Masters of the British School; including a special selection from the works of John Linnell and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1883, no. 191, as Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus.
1915
The Venetian School. Pictures by Titian and his Contemporaries, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1915, no. 19, pl. XII.
1939
Masterpieces of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture from 1300-1800, New York World's Fair, 1939, no. 383.
1940
Italian Renaissance Portraits, M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1940, no. 21, repro., as Presumed to be Portrait of Giulia di Gonzago-Colonna, Duchess of Trajetto.
1996
Obras Maestras de la National Gallery of Art de Washington, Museo Nacional de Antropología, Mexico City, 1996-1997, unnumbered catalogue, color repro.
1999
Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 1999, no. 78, repro.
2017
Der Poesie der venezianischen Malerei: Paris Bordone, Palma il Vecchio, Lorenzo Lotto, Tizian, Hamburger Kunsthalle, 2017, no. 54, repro.
Bibliography
1924
Fischel, Oskar. Tizian: Des Meisters Gemälde. 5th ed. Stuttgart, 1924: 318 no. 176.
1931
Hadeln, Detlev von. “Das Problem der Lavinia-Bildnisse.” Pantheon 7 (1931): 86.
1933
Suida, Wilhelm. Tizian. Zürich and Leipzig, 1933: 109, 168.
1940
Frankfurter, Alfred M. "Great Renaissance Portraits: A Unique Exhibition of Twenty-five Italian Masterpieces." Art News (March 16, 1940): 7-9, 21.
Suida, Wilhelm. "Die Sammlung Kress: New York." Pantheon 26 (1940): 278, 280.
1941
Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: nos. 155-157, repros., as Portrait of Giulia di Gonzaga-Colonna [Presumed].
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 197-198, no. 403, as Portrait of a Lady (Giulia di Gonzaga-Colonna ?).
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 247, repro. 198, as Portrait of a Lady (Giulia di Gonzaga-Colonna ?).
1944
Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 53, repro.
1945
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 125, repro.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 194, repro.
Morassi, Antonio. “Titian.” In Encyclopedia of World Art. 17+ vols. London, 1959+: 14(1967):col. 146.
1960
Valcanover, Francesco. Tutta la pittura di Tiziano. 2 vols. Milan, 1960: 2:69 no. 165.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 129.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 117, repro.
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 186-187, fig. 435.
1969
Pallucchini, Rodolfo. Tiziano. 2 vols. Florence, 1969: 1:137, 301.
Valcanover, Francesco. L’opera completa di Tiziano. Milan, 1969: 124.
Wethey, Harold. The Paintings of Titian. 3 vols. London, 1969-1975: 2(1971):186-187.
1972
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 203, 531, 646.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 344, repro.
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 260.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:495-496; 2:pl. 349, as Attributed to Titian.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 210, no. 254, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 395, repro.
1999
Valcanover, Francesco. Tiziano: I suoi pennelli sempre partorirono espressioni di vita. Florence, 1999: 267.
2007
Humfrey, Peter. Titian: The Complete Paintings. Ghent and New York, 2007: 284.
2009
Tagliaferro, Giorgio, and Bernard Aikema, with Matteo Mancini and Andrew John. Le botteghe di Tiziano. Florence, 2009: 266-267.
2011
Szanto, Mickaël. “Venise, Reni et la romanité. La collection de tableaux de Michel Particelli d’Hémery (1650).” In Venise & Paris 1500–1700: La peinture vénitienne de la Renaissance et sa réception en France. Edited by Michel Hochmann. Geneva, 2011: 224, 259, 274.
2014
Joannides, Paul, and Rupert Featherstone. “A Painting by Titian from the Spanish Royal Collection at Apsley House, London.” Hamilton Kerr Institute Bulletin 5 (2014): 68, 72-73.
2017
Serres, Karen. "Duveen's Italian framemaker, Ferruccio Vannoni." The Burlington Magazine 159, no. 1370 (May 2017): 374 n. 45.
Luchs, Alison. “The Little Dancer in Wax and Words: Reading a Sonnet by Edgar Degas.” In Degas, Daphne Barbour and Suzanne Quillen Lomax, eds. Facture. Conservation, Science, Art History 3 (2017): 167-168, fig. 14.
Wikidata ID
Q20176536