(Bergamo circa 1550 – circa 1595)
Portrait of a noble woman, three-quarter length, holding a letter,
oil on canvas, 100 x 76.3 cm, framed

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

Literature:
M. Tanzi, Gli sposi bergamaschi, Cremona 2016, pp. 28–29, fig. 10 (as Giovanni Paolo Lolmo)

This elegant portrait is by Giovanni Paolo Lolmo, who was active in the second half of the sixteenth century in Bergamo. The portrait is played out in the bright colours of the lady’s clothing, especially the vibrant red of her sleeves, set in contrast to the green drape in the background, and the carefully placed objects on her left, among which a convex mirror in a carved frame that seems to reflect a gilded light on the interior of her studiolo. Her writing instruments rest on the table beside her, while she holds a seal with which to close the letter in her other hand; her features are framed by a headdress encrusted with precious jewels.

Giovanni Paolo Lolmo was born in circa 1550. He was the son of a miniature painter, and he began his career following in his father’s profession. It is possible that he was apprenticed in the studio of Giovanni Battista Moroni (circa 1520-1578) – a notion based upon the close stylistic affinities between Lolmo’s works and those of the elder master. He was chosen in 1584 to paint the altarpiece of the Madonna and Child with Saints Rocco and Sebastian for Santa Maria Maggiore, Bergamo, which distinguished him as being amongst the region’s leading artists in the 1580s, following Moroni’s death in 1578.

Throughout his career, Lolmo’s principal points of reference remained Moroni and Moretto da Brescia (circa 1498–1554). Lolmo focused on the physical appearance of these two artists’ work, indulging in the calligraphic detailing of sumptuous materials and styles of hair, as well as attempting to attain and represent penetrative psychological renderings of his subjects (see F. Baccanelli, Giovan Paolo Lolmo: precisazioni biografiche e note sui dipinti, in: Quaderni brembani, 2017, pp. 66-73).

The present portrait can be compared to the Double Portrait in a private collection, Bergamo, which although reciting elements from Moroni, reveals, as does the present portrait, a style that compares well with the artist’s Portrait of a Lady in the Accademia di Carrara and his Portrait of a Gentleman in the Staatliche Museen, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin (see Tanzi in literature, fig. 17).