Portrait of a Young Woman
c. 1508
Artist, Sienese, 1470 - 1524
West Building Main Floor, Gallery 8
Artwork overview
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Medium
oil on poplar panel
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Credit Line
-
Dimensions
painted surface: 58.1 x 43.2 cm (22 7/8 x 17 in.)
overall: 60 x 45 cm (23 5/8 x 17 11/16 in.)
framed: 75.6 x 59.7 x 8.3 cm (29 3/4 x 23 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.) -
Accession
1939.1.353
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Cav. Antonio Piccolomini Bellanti, Siena, by 1811; by inheritance 1895 to his daughter, Signora Ciaccheri, Siena; presumably by whom sold 1895 to (Charles Fairfax Murray [1849-1919], London and Florence); sold November 1895 to (Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London, stock no. 7418); sold November 1895 to George M. Salting [1835-1909], London; sold September 1903 back to (Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London, stock no. 1005) in joint ownership with (Charles Fairfax Murray); sold February 1905 to William Newall.[1] (Trotti et Cie., Paris); sold 1911 to Arthur Sanderson, Edinburgh; (Sanderson sale, Knight, Frank, and Rutley, London, 14-16 June 1911, 3rd day, no. 621, as Petrarch's Laura); purchased by (Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London) for Robert Henry [1850-1929] and Evelyn Holford [1856-1943] Benson, London and Buckhurst Park, Sussex;[2] sold 1927 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); sold 1937 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] Agnew Stock Book no. 8, 1891-1898, pp. 174-175; no. 9, 1898 - 1904, pp. 306-307; no. 10, 1904-1933, pp. 234-235, National Gallery London reference no. NGA 27/1/1/8-10.
[2] Robert Henry Benson's notes on the painting's history (transcript provided in 1976 by his grandson, Peter Wake, and in NGA curatorial files) read in part: "It is believed that an emissary of [Dr.] Boda's tried to buy it but Agnew sold it to Trotti in Paris and Trotti sold it (I was told)...to Arthur Sanderson, then a prosperous distiller in Edinburgh. Sanderson lost money and sent it...for sale by auction. I gave Agnews a commission to buy it..."
[3] See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1725.
Associated Names
Exhibition History
1904
Exhibition of Pictures of the School of Siena, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1904, no. 52.
1927
Loan Exhibition of the Benson Collection of Old Italian Masters, City of Manchester Art Gallery, 1927, no. 96.
1940
Italian Renaissance Portraits, M. Knoedler & Co., New York, 1940, no. 13.
2001
Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's 'Ginevra de' Benci' and Renaissance Portraits of Women, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 2001-2002, no. 35, color repro.
Bibliography
1813
Cicognara, Leopoldo. Storia della scultura dal suo risorgimento in Italia fino al secolo di Napoleone. 3 vols. Venice, 1813: 1:412-413, pl. 43, as Laura, by Simone Martini.
1819
Petrarca, Francesco. Le rime del Petrarca. Ed. Antonio Marsand. 2 vols. Padua, 1819: 1:reverse of frontispiece, 348-353.
1821
Cicognara, Leopoldo. “Sul vero ritratto di Madonna Laura.” Giornale arcadico 35 (November 1821): 240-241, 245-246, as Laura, by Simone Martini.
1822
Meneghelli, Antonio. Sul presunto ritratto di Madonna Laura. Lettera. Padua, 1822: 1-29, as Laura, by Simone Martini.
Review of Cicognara 1821 and Meneghelli 1822. Giornale sulle scienze e lettere delle provincie venete 16 (October 1822): 171-179.
1823
Cicognara, Leopoldo. Storia della scultura dal suo risorgimento in Italia fino al secolo di Napoleone. 2nd ed. 7 vols. Prato, 1823: 3:325, pl. 54, as Laura, by Simone Martini.
1824
Palmerini, Niccolò. Opere d’intaglio del Cav. Raffaello Morghen. Florence, 1824: 97-98, 108-129, 152, as Laura, by Simone Martini.
1885
Halsey, Frederic. Raphael Morghen’s Engraved Works. New York, 1885: 72-74, no. 85, as Laura, by Simone Martini.
1903
Crowe, Joseph Archer, and Giovan Battista Cavalcaselle. A History of Painting in Italy from the Second to the Sixteenth Century. 6 vols. Edited by Robert Langton Douglas (vols. 1-4) and Tancred Borenius (vols. 5-6). Vol. 3, The Sienese, Umbrian, and North Italian Schools. London, 1903-1914: 5(1914):165 n. 3.
1904
Frizzoni, Gustavo. “L’esposizione d’arte senese al Burlington Fine Ats Club.” L’Arte 7 (1904): 269-270.
Fry, Roger. “La mostra d’arte senese al Burlington Club di Londra.” Rassegna d’Arte 4, no. 8 (1904): 118.
Fry, Roger. “Sienese Art at the Burlington Fine Arts Club.” Athenaeum no. 3997 (4 June 1904): 729.
1914
Borenius, Tancred. Catalogue of Italian Pictures at 16 South Street, Parke Lane, London and Buckhurst in Sussex Collected by Robert and Evelyn Benson. London, 1914: 15-16, no. 10, repro.
1922
Nobili, Riccardo. The Gentle Art of Faking: A History of the Methods of Producing Imitations and Spurious Works of Art from the Earliest Times up to the Present Day. London, 1922: 191.
1923
Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 vols. The Hague, 1923-1938: 16(1937):430-431, fig. 249.
1927
Douglas, Robert Langton. “I dipinti senesi della collezione Benson passati da Londra in America.” Rassegna d’Arte Senese e del Costume 1/5, no. 3 (May – June 1927): 101-104, repro.
Freund, Frank E. Washburn. “Die Sammlung Benson.” Der Cicerone 19, no. 16 (1927): 501, repro.
1928
Dussler, Luitpold. “Ein Bildnis von Girolamo di Benvenuto.” Pantheon 2 (August 1928): 379-381.
1931
Morrison, Richard C. “Some Paintings by Girolamo di Benvenuto.” Art in America 19, no. 3 (April 1931): 145-146.
1932
Misciattelli, Pietro. “La donna senese del Rinascimento.” La Diana 2, no. 4 (1932): 228, repro.
Joni, Icilio Federico. Le memorie di una pittore di quadri antichi. San Casciano in Val di Pesa, [1932]. Reprinted with a preface by Umberto Baldini. Florence, 1984: 273-274.
1933
Venturi, Lionello. Italian Paintings in America. New York and Milan, 1933: 2:pl.301.
1936
Joni, Icilio Federico. Affairs of a Painter. London, 1936: 335-336.
1941
Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 123, repro., as Portrait of a Lady.
Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 86, no. 446.
1942
Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 248, repro. 120.
1944
Frankfurter, Alfred M. The Kress Collection in the National Gallery. New York, 1944: 35, repro.
1945
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945 (reprinted 1947, 1949): 63, repro.
1949
Brandi, Cesare. Quattrocentisti senesi. Milan, 1949: 164, 273-274, pl. 244.
1951
Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 30 n. 1.
1955
Carli, Enzo. La pittura senese. Milan, 1955: 262.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 85, repro.
Buchner, Ernst. “Ein Jünglingsbildnis von Girolamo di Benvenuto.” In Hans Möhle, ed. Festschrift Friedrich Winkler. Berlin, 1959: 167-170, fig. 2.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 59.
1966
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XIII-XV Century. London, 1966: 162-163, fig. 449.
Frederickson, Burton B., and Darrell Davisson. Benvenuto di Giovanni, Girolamo di Benvenuto, their altarpieces in the J. Paul Getty Museum. Malibu, CA, 1966: 33.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 51, repro.
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Central and North Italian Schools, 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:188.
1972
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA, 1972: 92, 530, 646.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 154, repro.
1978
Torriti, Piero. La Pinacoteca nazionale di Siena. I Dipinti dal XV al XVIII secolo. Genoa, 1978: 22.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:224-226; 2:pl. 152.
Sutton, Denys. "Robert Langton Douglas. Part I." Apollo 109 (April 1979): 311 [65] fig. 36, 312 [66].
Bevilacqua, Alessandro. “Simone Martini, Petrarca, i ritratti di Laura e del poeta.” Bollettino del Museo Civico di Padova 68 (1979): 138-147.
Zeri, Federico. “Girolamo di Benvenuto: Il completamento della Madonna delle Nevi.” Antologia di Belle Arti 3, no. 9/12 (December 1979): 50.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 182, no. 202, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 178, repro.
Cole, Bruce. Sienese Painting in the Age of the Renaissance. Bloomington, 1985: 147, fig. 95.
1990
Torriti, Piero. La Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena: i dipinti. 3rd ed. Genoa, 1990: 308.
1992
Os, H. W. van. Studies in Early Tuscan Painting. London, 1992: 25, fig. 18.
1993
Agosti, Giovanni. “Su Siena nell’Italia artistica del secondo Quattrocento (desiderata scherzo cartoline).” In Luciano Bellosi, ed. Francesco di Giorgio e il Rinascimento a Siena 1450-1500. Exh. cat. Chiesa di Sant’Agostino, Siena, 1993: 490, fig. 3.
Levi, Donata. “Carlo Lasinio, Curator, Collector, Dealer.” The Burlington Magazine 135, no. 1079 (February 1993): 137-138.
2001
De Marchi, Andrea G. Falsi primitivi: prospettive critiche e metodi di esecuzione. Turin, 2001: 46.
Mazzoni, Gianni. Quadri antichi del Novecento. Vicenza, 2001: 139, 147-149 n. 9.
2003
Boskovits, Miklós, and David Alan Brown, et al. Italian Paintings of the Fifteenth Century. The Systematic Catalogue of the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 2003: 338-341, color repro.
Alessi, Cecilia. La Confraternita ritrovata: Benvenuto di Giovanni e Girolamo di Benvenuto nello Spedale Vecchio di Siena. Asciano (Siena), 2003: 96.
2017
Tucker, Paul, and Jane Horton. “A Connoisseur and his Clients: The Correspondence of Charles Fairfax Murray with Frederic Burton, Wilhelm Bode and Julius Meyer (1867-1914).” The Volume of the Walpole Society 79 (2017): 20, 198, fig. 14.
Wikidata ID
Q20175120