Carlo Ceresa (?) (San Giovanni Bianco, Bergamo, 1609 -Bergamo,1679)
Portrait of a Young Lady, 1635 ca.
oil on canvas; inv. P 5
provenance: Pelagio Palagi collection, 1860
Certain details mark this as a state portrait, including the
sitter’s rigid pose, her sumptuous clothing and the fact that
she carries the traditional attributes of a noble woman (a small
religious book and a fan).
The little scorpion on her ruff may allude to an endeavour of the
Gonzaga family; the sitter may have been a Gonzaga.
This portrait was long held to be the work of the Flemish Frans Pourbus
the Younger or of the Spanish Bartolomè Gonzalez, but it has
recently been attributed to Carlo Ceresa, an artist from Bergamo known
primarily for his exquisite portraits of members of the petty nobility.
Comparison with documented works by Ceresa leaves this attribution open
to dispute, although elements such as the natural lighting, the sombre
setting and the attention given to psychological nuances in the
rendering of the face were common among Lombard artists.
A recent attribution has suggested some resemblance to portraits by the
Bolognese painter Alessandro Tiarini, whose accurate description of
every single detail of clothing is combined with a delicate rendering
of facial features.
