Lot Essay
Bernardino dei Conti was one of the leading portrait painters in Milan during the late quattrocento and early cinquecento, where he worked for all the preeminent families in the city, including the Sforza and the Trivulzio. The present picture bears unmistakable characteristics of his style, as they are established in his signed and dated works, such as the Portrait of Francesco Sforza from 1496, now in the Vatican Pinacoteca. The format of the two pictures is identical, as is the foreshortening of the upper-bodies; and the treatment of the hands, the hair, and the braided cord in the two pictures is also very similar.
The present picture dates from circa 1495-1500. This is indicated not only by the strong stylistic similarities with other early pictures by Bernardino, but also by the fashion of the clothes and hair of the sitter. The dress is similar to that worn in Portrait of a Woman by Lorenzo Costa, in the collection of H.M. the Queen, Hampton Court, which has been dated circa 1497 to 1500, and the treatment of the hair is identical with that in the bronze portrait medal of Elizabetta Gonzaga, made by Adriano Fiorentino around 1495. The pose of the sitter also indicates a date in this period, since the profile format was the preferred type in Milan until Leonardo's Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, painted in the middle 1490's, was adopted as a new model by Milanese artists and patrons around 1500. The green curtains at the side of the image imitate the kind of real curtains which patrons regularly used to cover paintings.
Dott. Mina Gregori has confirmed the attribution to Bernardino dei Conti having examined the painting in the original.
The present picture dates from circa 1495-1500. This is indicated not only by the strong stylistic similarities with other early pictures by Bernardino, but also by the fashion of the clothes and hair of the sitter. The dress is similar to that worn in Portrait of a Woman by Lorenzo Costa, in the collection of H.M. the Queen, Hampton Court, which has been dated circa 1497 to 1500, and the treatment of the hair is identical with that in the bronze portrait medal of Elizabetta Gonzaga, made by Adriano Fiorentino around 1495. The pose of the sitter also indicates a date in this period, since the profile format was the preferred type in Milan until Leonardo's Portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, painted in the middle 1490's, was adopted as a new model by Milanese artists and patrons around 1500. The green curtains at the side of the image imitate the kind of real curtains which patrons regularly used to cover paintings.
Dott. Mina Gregori has confirmed the attribution to Bernardino dei Conti having examined the painting in the original.