Portrait of a Woman (Marianna Panciatichi, marchesa Paolucci delle Roncole, 1835–1919, or her sister-in-law, Beatrice Ferrari-Corbelli di Reggio, contessa di Lucciano)

Portrait of a Woman (Marianna Panciatichi, marchesa Paolucci delle Roncole, 1835–1919, or her sister-in-law, Beatrice Ferrari-Corbelli di Reggio, contessa di Lucciano)

Portrait of a Woman (Marianna Panciatichi, marchesa Paolucci delle Roncole, 1835–1919, or her sister-in-law, Beatrice Ferrari-Corbelli di Reggio, contessa di Lucciano)

Artist:Michele Gordigiani (Italian, Florence 1835–1909 Florence)

Date:1864
Medium:Oil on canvas
Dimensions:25 3/16 x 20 1/2 in. (64 x 52 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Purchase, Anne Cox Chambers Gift, 2011

Gordigiani was the premier portraitist of the Risorgimento, the period of modern Italian unification. This portrait, commissioned by marchese Ferdinando Panciatichi (1813–1897), scion of a distinguished Florentine family, depicts the patron’s daughter or daughter-in-law. That it was one of a pair—the pendant is now unlocated—can be deduced from the original receipt for the exuberant gilt wood frame with silk velvet elements the painting still bears, a masterpiece of the intagliatore, or carver, Niccola Ricci (active 1848–1866). The frame’s opulence is evocative of the years 1864–71, during which Florence served as King Vittorio Emanuele II’s temporary capitol.

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