Lot Essay
This unfinished portrait of an unknown lady bears some resemblance to Giulietta Tittoni, who was also painted by the artist in 1851 dressed as Joan of Arc. Briullov also painted the portrait of her father, Angello, and grand-mother Catarina, in the same year. However stylistic similarities to other portraits, for instance that of Princess A.A. Bagration dated 1850, and to one of the terrified women in Last Days of Pompeii, by the artist make a positive identification very uncertain. See E. Atsarkina, Karl Pavlovich Briullov; Life and Work, (Moscow, 1963), p.368.