Italian, Portrait of a Lady with a Dog

This unknown lady stands beside a table covered with an Ottoman carpet on which her small dog is lying. During the sixteenth century, Turkish carpets such as this one were luxury items and it was usual for them to be displayed on a table rather than placed on the floor.

The lady’s hands rest affectionately on the little dog’s back, while its paw lies on the inside of her arm. The dog may be a pointer puppy or possibly an Italian greyhound. Both the dog and the lady look directly at us. Our viewpoint is quite low, making it appear that the lady is looking down on us in a slightly austere manner, emphasised by her raised left eyebrow. The very high pleated ruff framing her face appears to lengthen her neck and accentuates this effect. The pair are depicted against a plain dark background, lit brightly from the upper left.

Dogs were often included in portraits to symbolise the sitter’s faithfulness, which may be the case here. The gold and ruby ring prominently displayed on the lady’s left hand may be a token to represent her marriage. It is possible that this painting was once a pair with a portrait of the lady’s husband, towards whom her body may have faced.

The lady’s clothes suggests a date in the late sixteenth century. Her sober black gown covers an expensive white silk costume that is closed with elaborate gold buttons and thick gold chains and decorated with gold embroidery or braid. The back of her hair is covered with a gold hairnet with a band of pearls and gold across the crown of her head. The white and gold colours of the dog’s coat match the white and gold of the lady’s clothes. The opulence of her dress and the expensive carpet suggest that she is a noblewoman.

The portrait is probably North Italian, and was formerly attributed to Sofonisba Anguissola (about 1527–1625). The painting shows some similarities to the style of Bartolomeo Passarotti (1529–1592), who worked mainly in Bologna.