‘La Fornarina’
after Sebastiano del Piombo (Venice c.1485 - Rome 1547)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
1700 - 1899
Materials
Oil on panel
Measurements
673 x 546 mm (26 1/2 x 21 1/2 in)
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 609073
Caption
The original of this picture is in the Uffizi, Florence. It is called ‘La Fornarina’ (the Miller’s Daughter) because of the similarity of type and pose with Raphael’s half-naked portrait of his supposed mistress, now in the Barberini Gallery, Rome. This woman is a little more demure, her camiccia (gathered undergarment) having been pulled firmly over her chest. However, her sidelong glance is enticing, and she touches, provocatively, the fur cloak that sensuously sits against the naked skin of her shoulder. It seems unlikely that this was intended as a portrait as such. Although the woman must have been modelled on someone, the result was probably intended as a generic ideal.
Summary
Oil painting on panel,‘La Fornarina’ after Sebastiano del Piombo (Venice c.1485 - Rome 1547), 18th-19th century. A half-length portrait of a young woman, slightly turned to left, head slightly inclined to left, gazing at spectator, a wreath in her hair, wearing pearl earrings and a white blouse beneath low cut bodice, right arm crossing waist to hold a fur cape draped over her left shoulder; plain green background. A copy of the original with the same title in the Uffizi, Florence.
Provenance
In 1847 inventory; bequeathed to the National Trust in 1947 with the estate, house and contents of Attingham by Thomas Henry Noel-Hill, 8th Baron Berwick (1877-1947) on 15th May 1953.
Credit line
Attingham Park, The Berwick Collection (National Trust)
Makers and roles
after Sebastiano del Piombo (Venice c.1485 - Rome 1547), artist