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Portrait of the Woman
Piero del Pollauiolo (Piero de Benci, 1443-1496) 1470
Renaissance
Museum Poldi Pezzoli, Milan, Italy

t is simple remarkable portrait of unknown woman painted by Piero del Pollauiolo around 1470. His name was delivered from the profession of his father. Jacoppo, artist's father, was alleged to have been a poulterer ( in Italian "pollaio" means hen coop), thought he was probably a goldsmith.
Piero was active mainly in Florence where, together with his older brother Antonio, run a prosperous workshop. Two brothers collaborated consistently, and sometimes it is difficult to determine their individual contributions. Antonio was talented goldsmith, sculptor, engraver and superb draftsman, teacher of Sandro Botticelli (1445 - 1510) and Andrea Sansoverino (1467 - 1529), while his slightly less gifted brother, Piero, was a skillful painter of mythological and religious scenes. He was also a taken portraitist. The Pollaiuolo brothers worked in the magic circle of Lorenzo's di Medici charisma.

Before 15th century the commissioned painted portraits of individual sitters were rare and appeared mostly as donors in religious paintings. Thus it is certainly correct to say that portraiture was an invention of Renaissance. Renaissance development of portrait and portraiture opened the possibility for women to be seen outside the constraints of their domestic environment. Early Renaissance profile portrait was a subject of fashion and artistic conventions. It emphasizes the beautiful lines of the sitter's physiognomy. The elegance of the aquiline nose and overly long neck, the firmness of the chain and the smoothness of the forehead became the subject of adoration. The stark sidelong view of woman's head allude to the profiles on Roman coins. Although portraits convey likeness of the sitter, it also demonstrate such woman qualities as her social role, chastity, modesty and moral virtues. Her individual psychological qualities (character, personality ) and identity (name, profession, age or social class) reflect the expectations and circumstances of the time when the portrait was made. The beauty was the accepted convention of Renaissance. Thus Renaissance portrait of woman stress on her physical beauty rather than her individual features of personality. The reason of portrait popularity (at least one of them) in Renaissance arose probably from the fact that portrait of the individual could be used as a proxy, as an instrument of friendship, as a prominent gift or simply as a subject of collectibility. Noted example is a famous collection of "beauties" owned in 1473 by Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan. It is possible that over a period of time sitter's name could be forgotten and today the sitter cannot be fully identified. She remains as anonymous woman, beauty whose name was replaced by vague title " La bella" or simply " Portrait of the woman" She became to be rather a model or allegorical symbol of beauty then the likeness of individual woman. From the mid of XVIth century onwards the labels to indicate the age of the sitter, the date the portrait was produced and other pieces of information about the sitter and the painter were provided by the owner. In many cases the information on the label was misleading. The authenticity of information provided by these labels became a subject of research.

Presented portrait of a lady, perhaps by the collaboration of Pollauiolo brothers, belongs to the series of Renessaince portraits of woman vaguely titled "Portrait of woman" or "La Bella". Portrait depicts a young woman whose name has been forgotten over centuries. Though an inscription, discovered during XIX century restoration identified the woman as the wife of the Florentine banker, Giovanni de Bardi, her name still remains unknown. The portrait created ca. 1470 according to the Early Renaissance artistic convention shows the classical beauty of woman left profile. The profile of her head outlined with a thin black contour separates the figure from the homogenous background, while the slightly turned towards the viewer chest crates a sculptural impression. Her extremely elegant, moderate garment, fashionable in the mid of XVth century Florence, and her precious jewelry indicate that she must have belonged to the wealthy Florentine aristocracy. A rope of small pearl that adorns her hair falls onto her forehead in the way the Florentine women used to wear. The necklace composed of an equal beauty white and black pearls tightly entwines her shapely neck. Elaborate pendant made of rubies in gold setting enhances her bust. The effect of the light which reflected on the lady' hair and pattern of her sleeves portrayed in great detail reveal the influence of Flemish painting combined with Florentine pictorial style.

However, the individualism and personal traits of the subject have been omitted "The portrait of woman" strongly emphasizes the status of the sitter, as well as her social obligations and necessary physical elegance to be a wife of Florentine aristocrat. Her shapely profile can be seen on both "The portrait of the woman" and silhouette as a logo of the Poldi Pezzoli Museum in Milan, Italy where the Piero's painting is exhibited.