16th

century

Oil on canvas

Italian

Portrait of a lady with a dog

Bordone, Paris (1500-71)

The sitter’s dress and leisured manner holding the small dog suggests that she was of high social standing. The fact that she remains unidentified is not unusual, as so many Venetian portraits, even those by Titian, have lost the names of their sitters. The cause of this was the break-up of so many old family collections after the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797. Although the picture’s abraded condition only allows a attribution to Paris Bordone enough remains, especially in the draperies, to allow it to be seen as a good example of patrician portraiture.

Schorr Collection, UK / © The Schorr Collection / Bridgeman Images

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