Scipione Pulzone, known as Il Gaetano (Gaeta 1544 - Rome 1598) - workshop
Portrait of Bianca Cappello (Venice, 1548 - 1587) Grand Duchess of Tuscany, second wife of Francesco I de' Medici
Second half of the 16th century
oil on canvas, 70 x 56 cm., in frame 103 x 87 cm.
Complete details of the work at this link
The painting presented illustrates the portrait of Bianca Cappello (Venice, 1548 - 1587), a noblewoman of Venetian origin, second wife of Francesco I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Her expressive force is skillfully highlighted by the compositional cut of a slight three-quarter view, with her head and gaze directed towards the observer. The beam of light coming from the right plastically enhances the volumes of the face and lingers on her features, accentuated by the wide white lace ruff around her neck and the details of her precious clothing.
Bianca wears a dark red dress, perhaps a zimarra, embroidered in gold with a deep neckline and a ruffled collar of the shirt, also trimmed with precious lace, embroidered with the motif of the Florentine lily.
The noblewoman's favorite jewelry was pearls: we see them on a choker adorning the neckline, in her earrings, and also in her hairstyle, which features her hair gathered at the nape of the neck and adorned with a string of small black pearls and a clasp.
This is a painting of high quality that can be attributed to the workshop of the painter Scipione Pulzone, known as il Gaetano, representing at its best a pictorial genre, portraiture, in which the master excelled. This attribution would be confirmed by comparisons with the numerous portraits that Pulzone dedicated to the Medici family.
Our painting, in particular, could represent one of the versions that the workshop replicated, at the request of numerous collector clients eager to own a portrait of one of the most influential personalities in the Florentine scene.
The figures drawn by Pulzone were icons of incomparable elegance: noblewomen, knights, and clergy lent their features to the artist's eye, who, with his superb technique, captured every minute detail. A surprising photographic richness and attention to material that echo pictorial prototypes of Flemish inspiration, particularly from Antonis Mor (Utrecht 1520 - Antwerp 1578), who also worked in Rome, and who would give Pulzone the moniker of "Van Dyck of the Roman school".
His portraits are capable of highlighting the characteristic signs of the exercise of power, both in the clothing and attributes, and in the expression of the face and pose. The aristocrats appear to us as figures fully aware of their social status and, even if their static and hieratic poses may seem cold or impersonal at first glance, they emanate the subtle charm of a "timeless" art.
First documented in Rome in 1562, Pulzone soon came into contact with the most important aristocratic families of the second half of the 16th century, becoming the official portraitist of the nobility and ecclesiastical leadership of the city. The first to appreciate his portrait skills was Marcantonio II Colonna, victor of the Battle of Lepanto against the Turks (1571). It was he who opened the doors to him among the great Roman families, followed by commissions from the Medici in Florence.
The earliest works chronologically are characterized by an optical and lenticular investigation, by a sharp focus on details, applied both to faces and clothing through a vitreous pictorial material. There is no doubt that Gaetano's technical skill, which in some cases reaches mimetic excellence, contributed to his fame. The closer we get to his final years, the more this characteristic loses substance and not only in portraits does he move towards a realism of more immediate human contact, to which our portrait seems to adhere.
In exceptionally good condition, the present painting is complete with a beautiful Flemish-style ebonized 'wave' frame.
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