



Lot 36*,TP
Northern Italian School16th CenturyPortrait of a lady, three-quarter-length, in a gold-embroidered red dress with a white lace collar, a ruby-encrusted brooch, a gold necklace and an elaborate bejewelled red headdress decorated with pearls and white flowers, standing beside a prayer book and rosary, holding a pair of gloves in her left hand and a carnation in her right hand
6 December 2023, 14:00 GMT
London, New Bond StreetSold for £7,040 inc. premium
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Northern Italian School, 16th Century
Portrait of a lady, three-quarter-length, in a gold-embroidered red dress with a white lace collar, a ruby-encrusted brooch, a gold necklace and an elaborate bejewelled red headdress decorated with pearls and white flowers, standing beside a prayer book and rosary, holding a pair of gloves in her left hand and a carnation in her right hand
charged with sitter's coat of arms and inscribed and dated 'ANNO.i6i5.AETATIS/SVAE.XXVIII.' (upper left)
oil on canvas
117.6 x 87.3cm (46 5/16 x 34 3/8in).
charged with sitter's coat of arms and inscribed and dated 'ANNO.i6i5.AETATIS/SVAE.XXVIII.' (upper left)
oil on canvas
117.6 x 87.3cm (46 5/16 x 34 3/8in).
Footnotes
The exquisite array of jewellery implies that the present sitter was someone of some considerable wealth. The Greek name for carnation, dianthos, means "flower of God," and for this reason the carnation often appears in paintings of the Madonna. In the present portrait it may symbolise the sitter's religious devotion, along with the presence of a prayer book and rosary.