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Portrait of a Man, possibly Matteo di Sebastiano di Bernardino Gozzadini
Crucifix
Coronation of the Virgin
Saint Bernardino
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These pendant portraits (1975.1.95 and 1975.1.96) represent a husband and wife of the Gozzadini family of Bologna; the family's coat of arms appears prominently in each painting. The inscribed architectural frieze in the background, which runs across both panels, attests to the commemorative nature of the subject: VT SIT NOSTRA FORMA SVPERSTES (In order that our features may survive). There are many allusions to matrimony in these portraits, which were probably made to celebrate a betrothal or marriage. The male sitter holds a spray of pinks, flowers often associated with engagement. His wife holds an apple or a peach, common symbols or love and marriage. The pelican and phoenix at lower left in the male portrait refer respectively to charity and resurrection-Christian virtues here associated with the sacrament of marriage. In the lower right corner of the female portrait are two rabbits and a girl confronting a unicorn, the former connoting fecundity and the latter chastity.
Inscription: Inscribed (upper left, on building): . . . FORMA·SVPERSTES ( . . . features may survive)
Contessa Gozzadini, Bologna; Stefano Bardini, Florence; Bardini sale, Christie's, London, May 26-30, 1902, lot 600 (bt. Anderson); [Galerie Trotti, Paris, 1909]; Acquired by Philip Lehman from Trotti in October 1911.
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