Northern Italian school; end of the 17th century.

Northern Italian school; late seventeenth century.
"Portrait of a lady".
Oil on canvas. Relined.
Presents restorations.
Measurements: 90 x 73 cm.
Half-length portrait of a middle-aged lady, who wears a sumptuous dress with wide neckline adorned with white lace, which also adorn the sleeves. The smooth qualities of the skin and the slight flush of the cheeks harmonize with the rest, leaving no room for detail with precise pictorial touches. The dark background enhances the figure and the elegance of her attire. The lady looks directly at the viewer with a regal and haughty attitude, although she is smiling slightly and holding a fan in her hand.
The portrait became during this period the leading genre par excellence in Italian painting, as a consequence of the new social structures that were established in the Western world during this century, embodying the ultimate expression of the transformation of taste and mentality of the new clientele, which emerged among the nobility and the wealthy gentry, who would take the reins of history in this period. While official circles gave preponderance to other artistic genres, such as history painting, and the incipient collecting encouraged the profusion of costume paintings, portraiture monopolized the demand for painting destined for the more private sphere, as a reflection of the value of the individual in the new society. This genre embodies the permanent presence of the image of its protagonists, to be enjoyed in the intimacy of a studio, in the daily warmth of a family cabinet or presiding over the main rooms of the house.