Traditionally attributed to Veronese, to whose late work it is closely related, the portrait is now ascribed to his imitator and assistant, Francesco Montemezzano. The sitter is unidentified.
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Title:Portrait of a Woman
Artist:Francesco Montemezzano (Italian, Venetian, ca. 1540–after 1602)
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:46 3/4 x 39 in. (118.7 x 99.1 cm), including added strip of 5 1/2 in. (14 cm) at top
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929
Object Number:29.100.104
William Coningham, London (until 1849; his sale, Christie's, London, June 9, 1849, no. 7, as "The Wife of the Painter, in a crimson and white dress, seated with a poodle dog in her lap, and a handkerchief in her hand," by Veronese, for £8.18.16, to Anthony); Donna Rosalia Velluti-Zati, contessa Fossi, Florence (until 1901; sold through A. E. Harnisch to Havemeyer); Mr. and Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, New York (1901–his d. 1907); Mrs. H. O. (Louisine W.) Havemeyer, New York (1907–d. 1929; possibly placed on exchange or consignment with Trotti, Paris, by November 1914 until at least October 1917)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The H. O. Havemeyer Collection," March 10–November 2, 1930, no. 104 (as "The Artist's Wife," by Veronese) [2nd ed., 1958, no. 186, as "Portrait of a Woman," by Veronese].
Louisville. Speed Art Museum. "Old Masters from the Metropolitan," December 1, 1948–January 23, 1949, no catalogue.
Madison. Memorial Union Gallery, University of Wisconsin. "Old Masters from the Metropolitan," February 15–March 30, 1949, unnumbered cat. (as "Portrait of a Woman," by Veronese).
Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center. "Old Masters from the Metropolitan," April 24–June 30, 1949, no catalogue.
New York. American Federation of Arts. January 1951–September 1952, no catalogue?
London. McIntosh Memorial Gallery, University of Western Ontario. "Loan Exhibition: 14th - 15th - 16th - 17th - 18th Century Italian Masters," March 24–April 24, 1956, unnumbered cat.
Little Rock. Arkansas Arts Center. "Five Centuries of European Painting," May 16–October 26, 1963, unnumbered cat. (p. 14).
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Venetian Paintings in the Metropolitan Museum," May 1–September 2, 1974, no catalogue.
Detlev von Hadeln. "Some Portraits by Paolo Veronese." Art in America 15 (October 1927), p. 251, implies that he attributes it to Veronese.
Giuseppe Fiocco. Paolo Veronese, 1528–1588. Bologna, 1928, p. 202, as in the collection of Henry Havemeyer, New York; includes it in his list of works by Veronese, but notes that he has not seen the picture.
Frank Jewett Mather Jr. "The Havemeyer Pictures." The Arts 16 (March 1930), p. 457, calls it "a brilliant and . . . quite uninteresting portrait of a woman in crimson brocade, possibly a Badile".
H. O. Havemeyer Collection: Catalogue of Paintings, Prints, Sculpture and Objects of Art. n.p., 1931, pp. 8–9, ill., as "Portrait of the Artist's Wife," by Veronese.
Bernhard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Oxford, 1932, p. 423, as "Lady with Lapdog," by Veronese.
Lionello Venturi. Italian Paintings in America. Vol. 3, Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century. New York, 1933, unpaginated, pl. 570.
Lionello Venturi. "Contributi a Paolo Veronese." L'arte 36 (January 1933), p. 46, fig. 1, attributes it to Veronese and dates it to his middle period.
Giuseppe Fiocco. Paolo Veronese. Rome, [1934], pp. 32, 127.
Bernhard Berenson. Pitture italiane del rinascimento. Milan, 1936, p. 364.
Harry B. Wehle. The Metropolitan Museum of Art: A Catalogue of Italian, Spanish, and Byzantine Paintings. New York, 1940, pp. 206–7, ill., states that although it "is close in style to Veronese's late work, . . . it is perhaps more like the work of his followers, especially Francesco Montemezzano and Parrasio Micheli".
George Martin Richter. "An Unknown Portrait by Paolo Veronese." Art in America 30 (January 1942), p. 39 n. 1, attributes it to Veronese and calls it a late work.
Luisa Vertova. Veronese. Milan, 1952, unpaginated, attributes it to Veronese and dates it about 1570.
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 99.
Bernard Berenson. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: Venetian School. London, 1957, vol. 1, p. 134.
Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. New York, 1961, pp. 96–97, 110–13, records the story of the purchase of this picture by her and her husband from a villa outside Florence, noting that the owner identified it as a portrait by Veronese of his wife.
Remigio Marini inL'opera completa del Veronese. Milan, 1968, p. 134, no. 369, ill., accepts the attribution to Montemezzano.
Burton B. Fredericksen and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth-Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972, pp. 144, 530, 607.
Federico Zeri with the assistance of Elizabeth E. Gardner. Italian Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Venetian School. New York, 1973, p. 44, pl. 49, attribute it to Montemezzano, calling the treatment of the flesh and the costume typical of that artist's best work.
Terisio Pignatti. Veronese. Venice, 1976, vol. 1, p. 199, no. A226; vol. 2, fig. 909, accepts the attribution to Montemezzano.
Detlev von Hadeln. Paolo Veronese. Ed. Gunter Schweikhart. Florence, 1978, pp. 103–4, 160, 220, no. 210, fig. 123, attributes it to Veronese.
Louisine W. Havemeyer. Sixteen to Sixty: Memoirs of a Collector. Ed. Susan Alyson Stein. 3rd ed. [1st ed. 1930, repr. 1961]. New York, 1993, pp. 96–97, 110–13, 292–94, 320 n. 151, p. 321 n. 160, p. 345 n. 471, p. 346 n. 475, quotes from a letter from Mary Cassatt discussing this picture as a portrait of Veronese's wife.
Susan Alyson Stein inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, pp. 231, 266.
Gretchen Wold inSplendid Legacy: The Havemeyer Collection. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1993, p. 367, no. A417, ill.
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 83, ill., as "Portrait of a Woman".
Andrea Bayer. "North of the Apennines: Sixteenth-Century Italian Painting in Venice and the Veneto." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 63 (Summer 2005), p. 27, ill. (color).
John Garton. Grace and Grandeur: The Portraiture of Paolo Veronese. London, 2008, pp. 176, 228–29, no. R4, fig. 66, mentions that Blake De Maria (private communication, 2007) tentatively identifies the sitter as Picabella Pagliarani, wife of Giacomo Ragazzoni, both of whom are depicted in Montemezzano's fresco "The Ragazzoni Family Greets Maria of Austria" (detached; Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Dresden).
Collections Management Associate Bianca Ruthven highlights some of the recent discoveries being made about the European Paintings collection as artworks are being moved in preparation for the Skylights Project.
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