Have you ever heard about Bartolomeo Veneto? Only about 30 of his paintings survived. He was a contemporary of Titian, Veronese, and other masters of High Renaissance. The little information available about Bartolomeo’s life has been derived from his signatures, dates, and inscriptions. His best-known works are portraits or pictures with portrait-like character. Bartolomeo’s later works, and especially those done on commission in Milan, indicate an influence from Leonardo da Vinci.
This portrait, now housed at Timken Museum of Art in San Diego was painted a year before the artist’s death. It shows the sitter standing in front of a red curtain. She is dressed in the height of fashion with a headpiece of human hair decorated with blue and gold ribbon, suggesting she was a lady of considerable status. There is nothing else we know about this woman – who was she exactly? What attracts our attention for sure is her alluring gaze. She looks like a very intelligent, fierce young lady.
What was she thinking of while posing?
