(Verona circa 1540–1620 Venice)
Portrait of a lady, three quarter length, wearing a rose-coloured dress and pearls,
oil on canvas, 100 x 77 cm, framed

Provenance:
possibly collection of Hans von Schoen, München (according to a label on the reverse)

We are grateful to Mauro Lucco for endorsing the attribution of the present painting on the basis of a photograph.

The present portrait is a recent addition to the oeuvre of the Veronese painter Francesco Montemezzano and is datable to the 1590s. The sitter is depicted seated, wearing a sumptuous rose-coloured dress with white trimmings, pearls and the fashionable Venetian two-pointed hairstyle of the period; she directly focusses the viewer. The dynamic and dense brushwork used to depict the dress and the background show the influence of the late works of Titian, as well as Jacopo Tintoretto. The sitter’s face is rendered more delicately then her clothing and reflects an individualising approach on portraiture by the painter.

Francesco Montemezzano’s was probably first trained in a studio in his native Verona and later joined the Venetian workshop of Paolo Caliari, Paolo Veronese. Veronese ran a large family workshop in Venice, employing his brother Benedetto Caliari and his own sons Carlo and Gabriele, as well as various other assistants and apprentices, including his nephew Alvise dal Friso. The present composition by Francesco Montemezzano clearly demonstrates Veronese’s influence displaying an interest in colour and form.