Portrait of a Woman

Artist Jacopo Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) b. 1518/1519, Venice; d. 1594, Venice

Datecirca 1565–1575

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions28 7/8 x 25 1/2 in. (73.3 x 64.8 cm)
Frame: 40 1/2 x 36 1/4 x 4 in. (102.9 x 92.1 x 10.2 cm)

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineGift of the Samuel H. Kress Foundation

Object numberGL.60.17.48

On View

On view

Label TextThe artist of this strikingly lifelike portrait of an unidentified Venetian aristocrat was named Jacopo Robusti but adopted the nickname Tintoretto from his father’s occupation as a cloth dyer (tintore in Italian). He was one of the most prominent Venetian painters of his time along with Titian and Veronese, both of whom are featured in these galleries.

Contemporaries praised Tintoretto for his inventive nature and quick execution, qualities that made him a favorite among Venetian art patrons. This work exhibits many attributes that show this rapid, self-assured style, such as the abrupt white brushstrokes articulating the details of the woman’s clothing and her accessories.
[L. Humphrey, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," 2022]ProvenanceFriedrich (Fritz) Viktor von Friedländer-Fuld (1858-1917) and Milly Antonie von Friedlaender-Fuld (1866-), Berlin or Schloss Lanke, near Bernau, Silesia, before November 1917; [Rudolph Lepke’s Kunst-Auctions-Haus, Berlin, November 25–26, 1919, no. 52]; S[amuel] Ogden Steinhardt (1882–1965), Paris, by 1925, on loan to Kaiser-Friedrich Museum (now Bode Museum), Berlin, 1925-1937, but later with Steinhardt in New York in February 1941. [Siegfried Aram (1891-1978), New York, by June 1956]; W. Lunsford Long, Warrenton, NC (1890-1964), 1956; on loan to NCMA, 1956–1958; donated to the NCMA in 1958.Published ReferencesLuigi Coletti, Tintoretto (Bergamo: 1940), 30.

Erich Von der Berken, Die Gemälde des Jacopo Tintoretto (Munich: R. Piper & Co., 1942), 111, no. 129, illus. pl. 341 (as Jacopo, ca. 1570-80).

Bernard Berenson, Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: The Venetian School, Vol. 1 (1957), 176 (as Jacopo).

The Samuel H. Kress Collection (Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, 1960), 98, illus. (b-w) 99 (as Jacopo).

Paola Rossi, "Una recente pubblicazione sul Tintoretto ed il problema della sua ritrattistica," Arte Veneta 23 (1969), 269 (as not Jacopo).

Pierluigi De Vecchi, L'opera completa del Tintoretto (Milan: 1970), no. 201, illus. 115 (as Jacopo, ca. 1572-73).

Fern Rusk Shapley, Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: Italian Paintings XVI - XVIII Century, Vol. 3 (London: The Phaidon Press, 1973), 57-58, illus. fig. 104 (as attributed to Jacopo).

Paola Rossi, Tintoretto. I ritratti (Venice: 1974), 149, 247, illus. fig. 275 (as Venetian school, 16th century).

Edgar Peters Bowron, ed., Introduction to the Collections (Chapel Hill: published for the North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, by The University of North Carolina Press, 1983), illus. (b-w) 194 (as attributed to Jacopo Tintoretto).
Exhibition HistoryRaleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "A Gift to North Carolina: Italian Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection," February 5-April 24, 1994, handout no. 14.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," October 7, 2022–July 8, 2024.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "Venice and the Ottoman Empire," September 28, 2024-January 5, 2025.

Raleigh, NC, North Carolina Museum of Art, "The People's Collection, Reimagined," December 15, 2025-present. Object Rights Statement

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