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Home » Collection » Portrait of a Young Woman as a Wise Virgin
  • Inscription
  • Provenance
  • Exhibition History
  • Bibliography
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Inscription

lower right below hand: V. [C]OLONNA

Provenance

Jan and Jacobus van Veerle, Antwerp, by 1650. Edward White, London, by 1870; (probably his sale, Christie's, London, 5 April 1872); purchased by (Colnaghi's, London and New York) for Sir Francis Cook, 1st Bt. [1817-1901], Doughty House, Richmond, Surrey; by inheritance to his son, Sir Frederick Lucas Cook, 2nd Bt. [1844-1920], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Herbert Frederick Cook, 3rd Bt. [1868-1939], Doughty House; by inheritance to his son, Sir Francis Ferdinand Maurice Cook, 4th Bt. [1907-1978], Doughty House, and Cothay Manor, Somerset;[1] (Francis A. Drey, London); sold February 1947 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[2] gift 1952 to NGA.

[1] The record of the sale to the Kress Foundation (see note 2) states that the painting is from "the collection of the late Sir Herbert Cook of Richmond (Surrey) England." The 4th Bt. inherited the collection and managed its dispersal after World War II with the trustees of the Cook estate.

[2] Drey sold five Cook paintings to the Kress Foundation, including Sebastiano del Piombo's "Portrait of a Lady" (bill of sale dated 18 February 1947; copy in NGA curatorial files).

Exhibition History
1870
Exhibition of the Works of the Old Masters, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1870, no. 149, as Vittoria Colonna.
1894
Exhibition of Venetian Art, The New Gallery, London, 1894-1895, no. 178, as Portrait of a Lady.
1914
The Venetian School. Pictures by Titian and his Contemporaries, Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1914, no. 9, plate XLV, as Portrait of a Lady.
1930
Exhibition of Italian Art 1200-1900, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1930, no. 399 (no. 398 in commemorative catalogue published 1931).
1944
Masterpieces from the Cook Collection, Toledo Museum of Art, Ohio, 1944-1945, no. 140 (Cook collection catalogue number), repro.
1945
Masterpieces of the Cook Collection, Art Gallery of Toronto (now Art Gallery of Ontario); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1945, no cat.
2006
Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, 2006-2007, no. 40, repro., as Woman as a Wise Virgin.
2008
Sebastiano del Piombo, 1485-1547, Palazzo di Venezia, Rome; Kulturforum, Berlin, 2008, no. 13, fig. 7.
Bibliography
1951
Einstein, Lewis. Looking at Italian Pictures in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, 1951: 91-93, repro.
1951
Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 102, no. 41, repro., as Portrait of a Young Woman as Mary Magdalen.
1957
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 68.
1959
Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 165, repro.
1963
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 308, repro.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 121.
1968
European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968: 109, repro.
1968
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Schools, XV-XVI Century. London, 1968: 165-166, fig. 397.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 322, repro.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: I:420-421, II:pl. 301.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 206, no. 250, color repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 370, repro.
2016
Facchinetti, Simone, and Arturo Galansino. In the Age of Giorgione. Exh. cat. Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2016: fig. 24.
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