Venetian School, circa 1580-1620

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 interesting portrait has an old lining and while the paint layer is stable, the surface is slightly uneven. There seem to be two or three areas of damage in an otherwise very well preserved work. One is situated in the left wrist and cuff of the figure, another is above this in the waist of the figure directly beneath her white shawl and the third is in her left shoulder on the right of the picture. The condition of the remainder of the painting is particularly good and the face for instance seems to be in beautiful condition. The paint layer is quite dirty and although there may be a few further retouches applied in areas apart from those mentioned above, lightly cleaning the painting and possibly addressing the surface and lining would reveal an impressive work.
"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."

This touching and emotive portrait of an elderly woman was traditionally attributed to Tintoretto, an attribution which Berenson apparently rejected in favor of Jacopo Bassano.  While that attribution does not seem tenable today, the general consensus amongst current scholars is that the painting is indeed by a Venetian artist, active somewhere between the late 16^th and early 17^th Century.  Certain aspects of the composition betray influences from outside Venice, however: the direct but natural gaze of the sitter and the treatment of the hands suggest an awareness of Emilian painting, while the physiognomy of the woman and the handling of the paint are not unlike the Genoese Bernardo Strozzi, who was active in Venice from 1630 on.  The sympathetic depiction of old age is not dissimilar to that of Antonio Carneo in his (admittedly later) paintings of the elderly (for example, the Old Lady in Meditation in the Civici Musei e Gallerie di Storia e Arte, Udine, cf. Antonio Carneo nella pittura veneziana del Seicento, 1995, exhibition catalogue, cat. no. 38).