GIROLAMO MARCHESI, DIT DA CORTIGNALO (Cortignalo,... Lot n° 29

PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN AT THE JUMP oil on panel, gilded and carved wooden frame 62.5 x 51.5 cm, with frame 94.5 x 82.5 cm With its gilded and carved wooden frame, with acanthus scrolls in horns of plenty, this portrait of a woman is still presented as it was exhibited in the palace of the model or of his descendants Girolamo Marchesi da Cortignalo, a painter from Bologna, was known for his portraits of Gaston de Foix (1489-1512) and Massimiliano Sforza (1493-1530). He therefore tried his luck at the Papal Court, alongside the greatest masters of his generation, Raphael (1483-1520) and Michelangelo (1475-1564). The portrait commissioned by Pope Paul III (1534-1549) attracted a rich clientele, as Vasari testifies in his Vite (Florence, 1568, II, p. 216). The Neapolitans were seduced by his almost Flemish style of painting women in three-quarter view against a dark background. His use of oil enabled him to render perfectly the texture of the velvets or the play of transparency between the gathers of the shirt worn by the ladies of the local aristocracy. Our painting, compared to another from the collection Piancastelli, illustrates well this rivalry between families in the richness of their attire. We particularly appreciate the refinement of the bows that adorn her hairstyle and the delicacy of her necklace in saltire.