拍品專文
It has been suggested by Nikolenko (op. cit.) that the present work may be a stylized portrait of Bacchiacca's scandalous Roman love, Pantasilea. Recorded by Benvenuto Cellini as a rather deceitful and careless woman with whom he was, nevertheless, much enamoured, he notes (B. Cellini, The Life of Benvenuto Cellini, 1983, ed. C. Hope, p. 60) that he gave her up 'to one of my dearest friends [Bacchiacca] who was head over heals in love with her' following their meeting at a dinner organized by the members of the Painter's, Sculptor's and Goldsmith's Club. This largely social club, founded by Michelangelo and frequented by his friends, met once or twice a week.
Bacchiacca used Pantasilea as the model in several of his paintings executed after 1525, notably for his Magdalen in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, as well as for the Cupid in the Portrait of a Courtesan in the Remak collection, Berlin. The present work, executed circa 1525-30 is one of his most alluring compositions, comparable to the Portrait of a Lady in the Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, NJ.
The Woman with a Cat displays Bacchiacca's debt to the series of presentation drawings by Michelangelo executed in the 1520's for Gherardo Perini (see, for example, Three Heads, the Uffizi, Florence, Inv. no. 599). These Teste Divine which have at times been attributed to Bacchiacca, had a marked contemporary influence on the younger artists in Michelangelo's circle. Bacchiacca used the drawings as models adapting the head and fantastic hair ornaments to create an image of alluring feminine beauty, at once fantastic and intimate. See The Head of a Woman, Sheet 3, the Uffizi, Florence, Inv. no. 598 E Recto, which he also used as the foundation for the Portrait of a Lady and Child in the Elizabeth Holmes Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Luisa Marcucci noted in her article Contributo al Bacchiacca, Bolletino d'Arte, IV, 1958, pp. 26-9, that Bacchiacca's originality consisted in giving 'to his portraits which are neither too disquieting nor too profound, a truly fresh and delightful interpretation in miniature of the Golden Age'. The enigmatic quality of this portrait with its hint of a Leonardesque smile has, however, lead to suggestions that it is a 'tactile allegory' (see the catalogue of the exhibition Le Trimphe du Mannerisme Européen de Michelange au Gréco, op. cit). Alfred Scarf further notes that Bacchiacca was able to raise his compositions out of the sphere of portrait painting into that of allegory through his prepoderance for coupling the fantastic with the intimate, as in the present work (see A. Scarf, Bacchiacca: A New Contribution, The Burlington Magazine, Feb. 1937, pp. 60-70).
Bacchiacca used Pantasilea as the model in several of his paintings executed after 1525, notably for his Magdalen in the Palazzo Pitti, Florence, as well as for the Cupid in the Portrait of a Courtesan in the Remak collection, Berlin. The present work, executed circa 1525-30 is one of his most alluring compositions, comparable to the Portrait of a Lady in the Springfield Museum of Art, Springfield, NJ.
The Woman with a Cat displays Bacchiacca's debt to the series of presentation drawings by Michelangelo executed in the 1520's for Gherardo Perini (see, for example, Three Heads, the Uffizi, Florence, Inv. no. 599). These Teste Divine which have at times been attributed to Bacchiacca, had a marked contemporary influence on the younger artists in Michelangelo's circle. Bacchiacca used the drawings as models adapting the head and fantastic hair ornaments to create an image of alluring feminine beauty, at once fantastic and intimate. See The Head of a Woman, Sheet 3, the Uffizi, Florence, Inv. no. 598 E Recto, which he also used as the foundation for the Portrait of a Lady and Child in the Elizabeth Holmes Fisher Gallery, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Luisa Marcucci noted in her article Contributo al Bacchiacca, Bolletino d'Arte, IV, 1958, pp. 26-9, that Bacchiacca's originality consisted in giving 'to his portraits which are neither too disquieting nor too profound, a truly fresh and delightful interpretation in miniature of the Golden Age'. The enigmatic quality of this portrait with its hint of a Leonardesque smile has, however, lead to suggestions that it is a 'tactile allegory' (see the catalogue of the exhibition Le Trimphe du Mannerisme Européen de Michelange au Gréco, op. cit). Alfred Scarf further notes that Bacchiacca was able to raise his compositions out of the sphere of portrait painting into that of allegory through his prepoderance for coupling the fantastic with the intimate, as in the present work (see A. Scarf, Bacchiacca: A New Contribution, The Burlington Magazine, Feb. 1937, pp. 60-70).