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Follower of Jacopo Tintoretto, 'Portrait of a Woman (perhaps Pellegrina Morosini Capello)', 1550 - 1559

Key facts
Full title Portrait of a Woman (perhaps Pellegrina Morosini Capello)
Artist Follower of Jacopo Tintoretto
Artist dates about 1518 - 1594
Date made 1550 - 1559
Medium and support oil on canvas
Dimensions 98.8 × 80.7 cm
Acquisition credit Bought, 1855
Inventory number NG2161
Location Not on display
Collection Main Collection
Portrait of a Woman (perhaps Pellegrina Morosini Capello)
Follower of Jacopo Tintoretto
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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.

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