Portrait of a Lady

portrait

The sitter, painted almost full-length, is seated on a stone plinth behind which rise up two pilasters, with what seems to be a niche in-between them. The plain architectural background in the style of the period infuses the painting with a sense of solemnity and isolation which accentuates the sitter's expression, halfway between serious and sad. With lowered eyes, she fixes her gaze on no particular spot, as if absorbed in her thoughts, perhaps inspired by the book which she is holding.

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About the Artist

Pierfrancesco di Jacopo Foschi

1502 – 1567

Italian Mannerist painter in Florence from the workshop of Andrea del Sarto. His later orientation was towards Sogliani (composition) and especially Pontormo. His work reflects the influence of Bronzino and in particular the slightly older Florentine artist, Pontormo. For Foschi, as for the other Mannerists, classicism was a discipline which was governed by strict rules. For that reason his painting, as with that of Bronzino and other Tuscan artists of this circle, suffers from a certain coldness and distance. This concept of classicism as an erudite artistic programme led to the foundation of the Accademia Fiorentina del Disegno in 1563, initiated by Foschi with Vasari, Bronzino, Antonio da Sangallo and others. In encouraging the perpetuation of classical precepts, however, it brought about a loss of originality.

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