Domenico Ghirlandaio
Italian, 1449–1494
Portrait of a Lady
c. 1490
This fashionably dressed young woman represents an ideal of femininity often celebrated in Renaissance Florence. Her physical beauty would have been considered a reflection of moral virtue, as suggested by the orange blossom she holds, which symbolizes chastity. The identity of the sitter remains a mystery, but the portrait may have been commissioned to commemorate her marriage—she wears a ring and pendant of the kind traditionally given as wedding gifts.
Medium | tempera, oil, and gold on panel |
Dimensions | 22 1/16 x 14 13/16 in. (56.1 x 37.7 cm); Framed: 31 1/4 x 24 1/4 in. (79.4 x 61.6 cm) |
Object Number | 1955.938 |
Acquisition | Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955 |
Status | On View |
Image Caption
Domenico Ghirlandaio, Portrait of a Lady, c. 1490, tempera, oil, and gold on panel. Clark Art Institute, 1955.938
Select Bibliography
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Eight: 15th and 16th Century Paintings. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1957.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Fifteen: Italian Paintings and Drawings. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1961.
Berenson, Bernard. The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance. 2nd edition, revised. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1900.
Berenson, Bernard. The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance. 3rd edition, revised and enlarged. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1909.
Heywood, William, and Lucy Olcott. Guide to Siena, History and Art. Siena: Enrico Torrini, 1903.
Francovich, Géza de. "David GhirlandaioI and II." Dedalo XXVII (1930): 65–80, 133–50.
Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 volumes. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1929–38.
Gielly, Louis. "Un Ghirlandajo inconnu: le portrait présumé de Giovanna degli Albizzi." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 21 (March 1939): 1945.
Frankfurter, Alfred. "Now the Old Masters at Williamstown." Art News 56, no. 8 (December 1957): 2831, 523.
Anonymous. "A Cache of Italian Beauty." Life 53, no. 12 (21 September 1962).
Dickson, Harold E. "The Origin of The Cloisters." Art Quarterly 28, no. 4 (1965).
Aymar, Gordon C. The Art of Portrait Painting. Philadelphia: Chilton Books,1967.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970.
Frederickson, Burton B. and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1972.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972.
Thomas Agnew and Sons, Ltd. Master Paintings, Recent Acquisitions. Exhibition catalogue. London: Thomas Agnew and Sons, Ltd., 1975.
Brooks, John H. Highlights: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1981.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984.
Brooke, David S. "Robert Sterling Clark and the Clark Art Institute." Laurels 56, no. 3 (Winter 198586): 137–48.
Smith, Webster. "Observations on the Mona Lisa Landscape." Art Bulletin 67, no. 2 (June 1985): 18399.
Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992.
Jones, Mark, and Marion Spagnol, eds. Sembrare e non Essere: I Falsi nell'arte e nella Civilita. Marmi, vol. 159. Exhibition catalogue. Milan: Longanesi, 1993.
Kern, Steven, et al. The Clark: Selections from the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1996.
Kern, Steven, et al. A Passion for Renoir: Sterling and Francine Clark Collect, 19161951. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., in association with the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1996
Natale, Mauro, at Claude Ritschard. L'art d'imiter: Images de la Renaissance Italienne au Musée d'Art et d'Histoire. Exhibition catalogue. Geneva: Musée d'art et d'histoire, 1997.
Held, Julius S. "Old Masters in the Clark Collection, Part I: Paintings." The Magazine Antiques 62, no. 4 (October 1997): 504–9.
Brown, David Alan, et al. Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo's Ginevra de' Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women. Exhibition catalogue. Washington DC: National Gallery of Art, 2001.
Landrus, Matthew. The Treasures of Leonardo da Vinci. London: Carlton Books Ltd., 2006.
Frady-Koruga, Lisa Y. "The Sitter's New Clothes: Botticelli's Portrait of a Lady and the Construction of Social Identity in Renaissance Florence." Discoveries 19, no. 2 (2002).
Marshall, Traute M. Art Museums Plus: Cultural Excursions in New England. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England, 2009.
Ganz, James A. and Richard R. Brettell. Great French Paintings from the Clark: Barbizon through Impressionism. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Skira Rizzoli Publications; Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2011.
Hess, Catherine, and Paula Nuttall. Face to Face: Flanders, Florence, and Renaissance Painting. Exhibition catalogue. San Marino, CA: The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 2013.
Boon, K. G.. "Die Ausstellung FrühMittelalterLicher Kunst zu Utrecht." Pantheon 24 (JuliDezember 1939): 3226.
Museo Poldi Pezzoli. Falsi da Museo: Falsi capolavori al Museo Poldi Pezzoli. Exhibition catalogue. Milan: Museo Poldi Pezzoli, 1998.
Melikian, Souren. "A Unique and Unforgettable Collection." International Herald Tribune, 16–17 September 2000.
Rossi, David. "Un Ghirlandaio vero in America." Siena News, 5 December 1998.
Paléologue, Maurice. "Le Portrait de Giovanna Tornabuoni par Domenico Ghirlandajo." Gazette des Beaux Arts 18 (Juillet–Decembre): 493–97.