Portrait of a young lady, three-quarter-length, traditionally identified as Marietta Cuccina

Although published as by Paolo Veronese in 1965, this portrait is closer to Cremonese models rather than Venetian ones - an opinion also shared by Prof. Marco Tanzi, to whom we are grateful. The portrait is reminiscent of Bernardino Campi painting a Portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola (Siena, Pinacoteca Nazionale), given by some to Bernardino Campi and by others to his pupil, Sofonisba Anguissola. The clothing she wears, however, lacks the refinement found in either of these artists' works and, in particular, Campi's Portrait of a Woman in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is distinctly more controlled in its technique. The identity of the sitter here cannot be established but she is richly dressed: her embellished raised collar, jewellery and emerald-green damask dress with gilded detailing all point to her being a woman of considerable wealth. The spaniel sitting on the table beside her was popular among the aristocracy and is frequently found in sixteenth-century portraits of noblewomen. The dog wears a red leather collar adorned with bells - exactly the same as that worn by the dog in Campi's aforementioned portrait - and looks up adoringly at its mistress, symbolising fidelity.