(Venice, circa 1485/89 – after 1550)
Portrait of a lady in a green dress,
oil on canvas, 94 x 67 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private collection, Italy;
where acquired by the present owner

We are grateful to Bernard Aikema for confirming the attribution of the present painting after examination in the original and for his help in cataloguing.

The Venetian painter Bernardino Licinio, who was born circa 1485/89 and who died in or shortly after 1550, was of Bergamasque origin but spent most if not all of his career in the city of the Doges. His pictorial output covers various genres, but he is particularly known as a portraitist, mostly of female sitters. The present monumental effigy of an unknown lady, perhaps in her late twenties or early thirties, is a typical example of his art, betraying the impact of Palma Vecchio, and perhaps some echo of an artist of a younger generation such as Moretto da Brescia. The picture shows a particular affinity with Licinio’s portrait of Countess Valmerodo, which is signed and dated 1546. Therefore we would date the present picture around that same year. At present, the identity of the sitter is unknown. However, the inscription in the background reads: „OM[NI]A VAN[ITA]S“.