Italian, Florentine, Portrait of a Lady in Red

This picture was bought by the National Gallery as a portrait of Isotta da Rimini – wife of the Lord of Rimini, Sigismondo Malatesta – possibly on the basis of comparison with a portrait medal by Matteo de' Pasti. While it is clearly idealised to reflect Renaissance concepts of beauty – blonde hair, pale skin, a high forehead – the artist maintains the woman’s characterful elongated nose, which does not feature on the medal. It was thought to be by Piero della Francesca, whose portrait of Sigismondo is now in the Louvre, Paris.

Like Baldovinetti’s Portrait of a Lady in a Yellow Dress, the picture was probably commissioned by the family of her future husband at the time of her marriage. She is well groomed and presented in the finest jewel-encrusted accessories: her headdress is sewn with pearls and gems in a fan pattern, and the pearl adornments of her transparent veil tickle her smooth shoulders. The pearl was associated with purity, an essential and celebrated quality for a young woman about to be married.

The profile view was falling out of fashion by the time this image was made but it is used here because it recalls Renaissance portrait medals. The reverses of medals of men were usually cast with images that symbolised valour, strength or some other virtue regarded as traditionally male; those of women were cast with visual allegories representing virtues such as modesty or chastity, deemed suitable for a wife. As a result, the profile view was often associated with these virtues. It also avoided the issue of a viewer’s direct engagement with the sitter – here the woman cannot return their admiring gaze, showing appropriate reserve.