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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.

Image Caption

Domenico Ghirlandaio, Portrait of a Lady, c. 1490, tempera, oil, and gold on panel. Clark Art Institute, 1955.938
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

Select Bibliography

Paléologue, Maurice. "Le Portrait de Giovanna Tornabuoni par Domenico Ghirlandajo." Gazette des Beaux Arts 18 (Juillet–Decembre): 493–97. Berenson, Bernard. The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance. 2nd edition, revised. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1900. Heywood, William, and Lucy Olcott. Guide to Siena, History and Art. Siena: Enrico Torrini, 1903. Berenson, Bernard. The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance. 3rd edition, revised and enlarged. New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1909. Marle, Raimond van. The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting. 19 volumes. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1929–38. Francovich, Géza de. "David GhirlandaioI and II." Dedalo XXVII (1930): 65–80, 133–50. Boon, K. G.. "Die Ausstellung FrühMittelalterLicher Kunst zu Utrecht." Pantheon 24 (JuliDezember 1939): 3226. 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. 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. 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. Museo Poldi Pezzoli. Falsi da Museo: Falsi capolavori al Museo Poldi Pezzoli. Exhibition catalogue. Milan: Museo Poldi Pezzoli, 1998. Rossi, David. "Un Ghirlandaio vero in America." Siena News, 5 December 1998. Melikian, Souren. "A Unique and Unforgettable Collection." International Herald Tribune, 16–17 September 2000. 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. 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). Landrus, Matthew. The Treasures of Leonardo da Vinci. London: Carlton Books Ltd., 2006. 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.