About this lot

Description

Italian School, late 17th - early 18th Century Portrait of Petrarch's Laura, in profile, smelling a carnation and touching an apple oil on canvas, oval, in a late 18th century gilded frame 61 x 53cm (24 x 21in) Provenance: Mawley Hall, Shropshire Other Notes: The present portrait is a later copy after a presumably lost 14th Century portrait of Laura de Noves (1310–1348), wife of Count Hugues de Sade. An engraving, in reverse, of the supposed, or lost, original is illustrated in 'Petrarcha redivivus' by Giacomo Filippo Tomasini, pub. 1635. Another version of this composition is in the collection of the National Trust at Ickworth House, Suffolk.CONDITIONRelined. Paint layer stable. There is a minor raised bump, approximately 2 inches long, left of the sitter's head (this is not visible at the back of the canvas). Retouchings throughout, especially in the sitter's sleeve and right of the sitter are visible and no longer match the original. A network of drying cracks has developed along the edges of the canvas. The gilding of the frame is worn in several places.Moulton 691 inventory no. to the reverseOverall size including frame 88 x 80.5 cm (34.5 x 31.5in).

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