Profile Portrait of a Lady

c. 1410

Shown from the chest up on the far side of a narrow ledge, a woman wearing an elaborate headdress and gown faces our left in profile in this vertical portrait painting. Her pale-peach skin is smooth with little shading around the features. The hazel eye we see is heavy-lidded under a thin, arched brow. The woman has a notably high forehead and a sloped nose. Her lips are closed over a knobby chin and fleshy jawline. Her hair is gathered up in a fine gold net under a twisted, ring-like headdress held in place with long gold pins. The fabric of the headdress alternates between twists of parchment brown or light brown patterned with red or darker brown leaf patterns. A network of muted blue dots encircled with gold does not quite line up with the headdress it overlays. The high collar of the woman’s peacock-blue dress flares up the back of her head over a white collar that curls away along either side of her chin. The garment is covered with flowers and stems outlined in gold. There are thick gold bands at her neck and around her waist. A chain made up of two strands of gold orbs like oversized beads hangs from the shoulder closer to us and then wraps around her body. A gold pendant near her neck may be two chain links or a thin letter B. Light glints off the ledge along the bottom of the painting, and the background is inky black.

Media Options

This object’s media is free and in the public domain. Read our full Open Access policy for images.
Not on view See artworks now on view

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on panel

  • Credit Line

    Andrew W. Mellon Collection

  • Dimensions

    painted surface: 52 × 36.6 cm (20 1/2 × 14 7/16 in.)
    overall (panel): 53 × 37.6 cm (20 7/8 × 14 13/16 in.)
    framed: 74.3 × 61.28 × 7.62 cm (29 3/8 × 24 1/4 × 3 in.)

  • Accession

    1937.1.23

Artwork history & notes

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.
[1] The Getty Provenance Index lists a buyer named Cooper who purchased the work at the 1898 Christie's sale, according to the J. Paul Getty Museum's copy of the auction catalogue.
[2] According to the Getty Provenance Index, the Villeroy sale was held at Armand, Paris, rather than at Galérie Georges Petit. The Getty Museum's copy of the auction catalogue lists the buyer as Paul Jonas. However, Duveen Brothers was in possession of the work within the year of the Villeroy sale (perhaps Jonas was an agent for Duveen).
[3] The original Duveen Brothers invoice is in Gallery Archives, copy in NGA curatorial files.

Associated Names

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).

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.

  • Venturi, Adolfo. "Antonio Pisano of Verona, called Pisanello." The Connoisseur 71 (1925): 196-197, repro. 199.

  • Venturi, Adolfo. "Per il Pisanello." L'Arte 28 (1925): 36-37, fig. 1.

  • Venturi, Adolfo. Grandi artisti italiani. Bologna, 1925: 222-226, fig. 77.

1926

  • Valentiner, Wilhelm R. The Clarence H. Mackay Collection. New York, 1926: 1-2, no. 1, as by Pisanello, repro.

1929

  • Hill, George F. Dessins de Pisanello. Paris and Brussels, 1929: 13.

  • Richter, George Martin. "Pisanello Studies-II." The Burlington Magazine 55 (1929): 139.

  • Singleton, Esther. Old World Masters in New World Collections. New York, 1929: 99-103, repro.

  • Cortissoz, Royal. "The Clarence H. Mackay Collection." International Studio 94 (1929): 32-33.

1930

  • Martinie, A.-H. Pisanello. Paris, 1930: 25-26, 30, pl. 12.

  • 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

  • Pantheon 19 (1937): 129, repro.

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. "New Items in the Mellon Collection." Art News 35 (13 February, 1937): 11, repro. 9.

  • Cortissoz, Royal. An Introduction to the Mellon Collection. Boston, 1937: 16.

1940

  • Degenhart, Bernhard. Antonio Pisanello. Vienna, 1940: 38, fig. 4 (2d ed. Turin, 1945: 39-40, 69, pl. 4.).

1941

  • Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 157, no. 23, as by Pisanello.

  • Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 27, repro., as by Pisanello.

  • Weinberger, Martin. “Silk Weaves of Lucca and Venice in Contemporary Painting and Sculpture.” The Bulletin of the Needle and Bobbin Club 25 (1941): 14, 19, fig. 11C, 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." 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

  • Ring, Grete. A Century of French Painting 1400-1500. London, 1949: 199, no. 64, pl. 27.

  • Sterling, Charles. Les peintres primitifs. Paris, 1949: 24, fig. 19.

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): xi, 13, repro., as by Pisanello.

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.

  • 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.

  • 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

  • Journet, René. "Deux retables du quinzième siècle à Ternant (Niévre)." Annales littéraires de l'Université de Besançon 49 (Archéologie 14) (1963): 10.

  • Scheller, Robert W. A Survey of Medieval Model Books. Haarlem, 1963: 111.

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 301, repro., as by Pisanello.

  • Châtelet, Albert, and Jacques Thuillier. French Painting from Fouquet to Poussin. Geneva, 1963: 29.

  • 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.

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

  • Castelnuovo, Enrico. Il gotico internazionale in Francia e nei Paesi Bassi (I Maestri del Colore). Part 2, Milan, 1966: not paginated, pl. XIV.

  • Laclotte, Michel. Primitifs français. Paris, 1966: 23, pl. 11.

  • Troescher, Georg. Burgundische Malerei. Berlin, 1966: 82-84, 386, pls. 71, 72.

  • 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.

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

  • Meiss, Millard. French Painting in the Time of Jean de Berry: The Boucicaut Master. London, 1968: 153.

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 45, repro.

  • Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 24-25, color repro.

  • Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Central Italian and North Italian Schools. 3 vols. London, 1968: 1:349, as by Pisanello.

1972

  • Bialostocki, Jan, et al. Spätmittelalter und beginnende Neuzeit (Propyläen Kunstgeschichte). Berlin, 1972: 189, no. 49, fig. 49.

  • 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.

Wikidata ID

Q3937690

You may be interested in

Loading Results