Portrait of a Woman (perhaps Pellegrina Morosini Capello)

Artist: Jacopo Tintoretto (Italian, 1518 or 1519 - 1594)

Original Dimensions: 38 7/8" x 31 3/4"

Location: National Gallery of Art, London

About Artwork: (1550 - 1559) "This portrait was purchased in 1855 from the Capello family, and is said to represent Pellegrina Morosini, who was from one of the oldest and most important families of sixteenth-century Venice. Pellegrina married Bartolomeo Capello in 1544 and had two children, Bianca and Vettor. She died some time before 1559. Pellegrina’s daughter, Bianca Capello, was the subject of scandal, as the mistress then wife of Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. The woman turns her eyes to meet ours with a confident, questioning look. A single parapet is often used to define space in Venetian portraits, such as Titian’s Portrait of a Lady (‘La Schiavona’) in the National Gallery, but the two stone ledges in this portrait are an unusual feature. The painting is similar in appearance and technique to two portraits of women (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna and the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest) considered to be early works by Tintoretto. It was probably painted by a follower of Tintoretto, perhaps from the mainland, in the early 1550s." - (National Gallery of Art, London)