Portrait of a young girl, full-length, in a red dress and wearing a framed agnus dei medallion

This charming, sensitively painted portrait of a young girl was possibly commissioned around the moment of her first communion and confirmation, a significant Sacrament in the Catholic church. Wearing a traditional Italian costume, the brilliant scarlet of her dress, contrasted with black stripes, is similar to the folk dress that was often worn in the region of Lombardy, with the lace covering her head traditionally manufactured on the Venetian island of Burano. Attached to the large bow at her chest, she holds the ornate silver frame of a pendant, displaying to the viewer what appears to be an agnus dei medallion, a popular devotional object that had been prevalent since the early Middle Ages.

The effect of the possession of agnus dei medallions was understood to be equivalent to receiving the Sacrament, and they were typically made in Rome in the ‘papal apothecary’ (or Magistrum Cerae Palatii Apostolici) and blessed by the Pope during Holy Week. Crafted from wax taken from Paschal candles and containing Holy oil and water, the disks were stamped with an image of the agnus dei on one side and an image of a saint or the name and arms of the consecrating Pope on the other. Having been blessed, they were then distributed as gifts to cardinals, ambassadors and other important figures at the pontifical court, or to leading dignitaries across Europe. Often, they would subsequently be given to relatives or acquaintances, and were typically kept as devotional objects or worn, as here, for their protective powers, and often particularly deemed appropriate for mothers and children (see A. Muller, 'The agnus dei, Catholic devotion, and confessional politics in early modern England’, British Catholic History, XXXIV, 2018, p. 10).