Lot 241: Jacopo Palma, il Vecchio (Serina 1479/80-1528 Venice)

Jacopo Palma, il Vecchio (Serina 1479/80-1528 Venice)
Portrait of a woman
oil on canvas
31 x 24¼ in. (78.7 x 61.6 cm.)

Catalogo dei quadri esistenti nella Galleria Manfrin in Venezia, Venice, 1856, no. 268.

Manfrin collection, Venice.
Private collection, Paris.

Palma Vecchio was born in Serina (Bergamo) around 1480, but nothing else is known of him before 1510, when he is first documented in Venice. His earliest surviving paintings, from c. 1510-1512, suggest that he trained there under Andrea Previtali, a fellow Bergamesque, but he may later have been a pupil of Giovanni Bellini, before falling entirely under the influence of Titian. He executed altarpieces for Venetian churches - most notably the glorious polyptych of Saint Barbara for Santa Maria Formosa (1522-1524; in situ) - as well as for churches in the Veneto and the valleys near Bergamo, but the majority of his work was for private clients. He specialized in two genres: first, sacre conversazioni of a wide-format type devised by Bellini and Titian, but for which Palma Vecchio created a significant market (later inherited by Paris Bordone and Palma's pupil Bonafazio de'Pitati); and second, idealized and provocative half-length paintings of blonde courtesans, such as the present lot, which also trace their origins to Bellini's Young Woman at Her Toilet (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) and Titian's celebrated Flora (Uffizi, Florence). The somewhat provincial Palma transformed the monumentality and dignity of Titian's figures into corpulent, voluptuous characters of seductive charm. As with the present, unidentified model, Palma emphasizes her sensuality and physical beauty, costly robes - which inevitably fall open to reveal a heavy breast - fresh, clear skin and gleaming blonde-dyed hair.

The present painting is an autograph version of a well-known composition by Palma in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. The Berlin version, which was acquired by the museum in 1884, is very slightly smaller (73 x 58 cm.) and painted on a poplar panel. The present lot was studied in person by Dr. Philip Rylands in December 2005, shortly after it was acquired by Salander-O'Reilly, and Dr. Rylands confirmed (written correspondence, 8 January 2006) that in his opinion 'this is a fine autograph painting by the artist in his maturity. We know that Palma died in July 1528. This painting is likely to be of the mid-1520s, as Palma gained confidence in the formal arrangement of his draped figures and boldness in the sensuality of his presentation of female beauty.'

Dr. Rylands continued,'The painting closely resembles a Portrait of a Woman by Palma il Vecchio in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. There is at least one other instance in which Palma replicated a successful composition, presumably to satisfy a client (paintings of women in Hampton Court, England, and in the Sorlini Collection, Brescia). Whether this painting precedes or follows the painting in Berlin is difficult to say, although its cleaning and conservation may provide clues. However, the attribution to Palma does not depend solely on its affinity with the Berlin painting. The facial features (which differ somewhat from its mate in Berlin), the drapery, the texture and brushwork of the hair and color tones (to the degree that they can be assessed in the current darkened state of the surface) are all convincingly autograph.'

He concludes that 'the existence of duplicate paintings like this in Palma's oeuvre tends to confirm that the subject here is not that of a commissioned portrait but is an example of a genre of idealized sensual beauty that may have been invented by Giorgione, which occurs also in Titian's early work, and for which Palma developed a lucrative market. Paris Bordone continued to exploit this market in the Veneto after Palma's early death.'