Workshop of Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian (c.1490-1576)

Full length versions at Capodimonte and in the Palazzo Pitti were both regarded by Professor Harold Wethey as the work of Titian with workshop assistance and dated c.1554 (H. E. Wethey, The Paintings of Titian, II, The Portraits, London, 1971, pp. 128-9, nos. 79-80, and pls. 179-80). Another three-quarter length variant, measuring 46 x 33in., was sold by the 11th Earl of Carlisle at Sotheby's, 6 May 1926, lot 8.

In a letter of 22 July 1971 to the present owner, Professor Rodolfo Pallucchini wrote that, judging from a transparency, the present picture 'sembra di grande qualità ... La mia impressione é ... che si tratti di un originale di Tiziano ...'