Portrait of Emilia Pia da Montefeltro
Encyclopedia
The Portrait of Emilia Pia da Montefeltre is a painted portrait from around 1502-1504, attributed to the Italian
Renaissance
artist Raphael
and housed by the Baltimore Museum of Art
, United States
in Venice
.
The painting was perhaps part of the ducal collection of Urbino
, brought to Florence
in 1625 as a part of Vittoria della Rovere
's dowry. Later it was in Vienna
, then in Erlenbach
, near Zurich
, and was later sold to the Kleinberger Gallery in New York
, USA, whence it arrived to the current seat.
The identification with the subject (the wife of Antonio da Montefeltre, described in Baldassarre Castiglione's Book of the Courtier) is confirmed by a medal attributed to Adriano Fiorentino. However, the attribution to Raphael remains disputed, in a similar way than the Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga
of the Uffizi
. Emilia Pia was in fact a confident of Elisabetta Gonzaga, and perhaps her portrait was executed to emulate the former's.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
artist Raphael
Raphael
Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino , better known simply as Raphael, was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form and ease of composition and for its visual achievement of the Neoplatonic ideal of human grandeur...
and housed by the Baltimore Museum of Art
Baltimore Museum of Art
The Baltimore Museum of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, was founded in 1914. Built in the Roman Temple style, the Museum is home to an internationally renowned collection of 19th-century, modern, and contemporary art. Founded in 1914 with a single painting, the BMA today has 90,000 works...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
History
The rear of the work has a an iscription saying "Emilia Pia da Montefeltre" and a seal with a fragmentary line, usually interpreted as "[Fo]ntico tedescho di V[enezia]", i.e. the Fondaco dei TedeschiFondaco dei Tedeschi
The Fondaco dei Tedeschi is a historic building in Venice, northern Italy, situated on the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge. It was the headquarters and restricted living quarters of the city's German merchants...
in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
.
The painting was perhaps part of the ducal collection of Urbino
Urbino
Urbino is a walled city in the Marche region of Italy, south-west of Pesaro, a World Heritage Site notable for a remarkable historical legacy of independent Renaissance culture, especially under the patronage of Federico da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino from 1444 to 1482...
, brought to Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
in 1625 as a part of Vittoria della Rovere
Vittoria della Rovere
Vittoria della Rovere was Grand Duchess of Tuscany as the wife of Grand Duke Ferdinando II. She gave her husband four children, two of which would survive infancy; the future Cosimo III, Tuscany's longest reigning monarch and Francesco Maria, a prince of the Church...
's dowry. Later it was in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, then in Erlenbach
Erlenbach
Erlenbach may refer to:*in Switzerland**Erlenbach, Switzerland, Canton of Zurich**Erlenbach im Simmental, Canton of Berne*in Germany**Erlenbach bei Marktheidenfeld, in the district Main-Spessart, Bavaria...
, near Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
, and was later sold to the Kleinberger Gallery in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, USA, whence it arrived to the current seat.
The identification with the subject (the wife of Antonio da Montefeltre, described in Baldassarre Castiglione's Book of the Courtier) is confirmed by a medal attributed to Adriano Fiorentino. However, the attribution to Raphael remains disputed, in a similar way than the Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga
Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga
The Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga is a picture from around 1504, attributed to the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael and housed in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.-History:...
of the Uffizi
Uffizi
The Uffizi Gallery , is a museum in Florence, Italy. It is one of the oldest and most famous art museums of the Western world.-History:...
. Emilia Pia was in fact a confident of Elisabetta Gonzaga, and perhaps her portrait was executed to emulate the former's.