Roman School, circa 1600

Wilhelm Suida, Graz;
His sale, Munich, Galerie Hugo Helbing, May 18, 1914, lot 35 (as Francesco Salviati).

L. Mortari, Francesco Salviati, Rome 1992, p. 157, cat. no. 160, illustrated, (as not by Salviati). 

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This painting is very dirty. The bulk of the center and right side of the paint layer, including the face, hair and neck, are in very good condition. To the immediate left of the face there are some vertical cracks which have given rise to some lifting and loss of the paint, and there are some other losses on the extreme left edge. If the picture were to be cleaned, a few restorations may well be required here and there in the center and on the right, but the bulk of the attention will be focused on the vertical losses in the background on the shoulder on the left side of the panel. The reverse of the panel is un-reinforced. There is a strip of linen helping to secure the crack on the left side and wax appears to have been applied to the remainder of the panel.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

A secure attribution, or indeed purpose, for this beautifully and freely painted portrait has been elusive.  It had in the past been considered to be the work of Francesco Salviati, no doubt due to the strongly drawn and modeled form of the lovely young woman's face.  The informality of conception of this portrait, however, precludes an attribution to Salviati, and rather suggests a slightly later dating for the picture, and an attribution to a more naturalistic and Baroque hand.  A later attribution to Antiveduto Grammatica given to the portrait is also unsatisfactory.  Indeed the wistful quality of the image suggests that the sitter must have been an intimate of the artist.  She is shown in three quarters view, her head turned to her right, dressed simply in a yellow bodice with just the edge of her white chemise showing across her neckline.  Her auburn hair is not formally dressed, as one would expect in a commissioned portrait, but rather pulled back and falling down in loose and expressionistically rendered curls.  The support for the picture is also rather intriguing.  The main body of the image is painted on the rather unusual support of beech wood, while the left third of the picture (running from top to bottom in a line to the left of the sitter's profile) is oak. The panel appears to have been created this way, and roughly sawn as a tondo, as the handling of paint is consistent throughout.  The cobbling together of a support in this manner, possibly from scraps the artist had available, again suggests that the present portrait was painted for the artist's own delectation rather than for a specific purpose.