Lavinia Fontana

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Lavinia Fontana

1552-1614

Nun or Young Woman with Veil

Red and black chalk. Ruled border in pen and brown ink, laid down, simulated frame in pen and brown ink.

3 5/8 x 3 1/8 inches (92 x 80 mm)

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.

IV, 158m

Notes:

One of 19 drawings in an album of portrait studies by Fontana (IV, 158a-s), including the artist's self-portrait (IV, 158). Album description: dark blue goatskin, tooled in gold, 14 3/4 x 11 1/4 inches (334 x 284 mm).
This drawing appears on folio 13. The present drawing is similar to IV, 158e. The headdresses of these two drawings differ from those of the same subject seen in IV, 158c and IV, 158i, suggesting perhaps a different level or rank, or differing religious orders. The veil in the present drawing is similar to that worn in the Portrait of the Abbess Lucrezia Agliardi Vertova at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inv. 30.95.255), painted by Giovanni Battista Moroni (1524-1578).

Provenance:

Henry Temple, 2nd Viscount Palmerston (1739-1802), Broadlands, near Romsey, Hampshire, and London; his son, Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784-1865), Broadlands and London; his widow, Mary (née Clavering), Lady Palmerston (d. 1869), Broadlands; her grandson, the Rt. Hon. Evelyn Ashley (1836-1907), Broadlands; his sale, London, Christie's, 24 April 1891, as lot 200, "A Volume of Portraits - in colours - by Lavinia Fontana" (bought by Murray for 4.17.6); Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), London and Florence; from whom purchased through Galerie Alexandre Imbert, Rome, in 1909 by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), New York (no mark; see Lugt 1509); his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York.

Associated names:

Palmerston, Henry Temple, Viscount, 1739-1802, former owner.
Palmerston, Henry John Temple, Viscount, 1784-1865, former owner.
Palmerston, Emily Lamb, Viscountess, 1787-1869, former owner.
Ashley, Evelyn, 1836-1907, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Morgan, J. P. (John Pierpont), 1867-1943, former owner.

Bibliography:

Cantaro, Maria Teresa, Lavinia Fontana, Bolognese: "Pittora Singolare" 1552-1614, Milan, 1989.

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