Description: Horizontal fold slightly below center, a 1 cm hole at the base of the woman's throat, two top corners cut off and made up; inscised for transfer

Inscribed in pen and black ink at lower left: Daniel de Volterre. Ecolle de Florence. Numbered in pen and brown ink at lower right: 129 (Sparre)

Sirén followed the traditional attribution to Daniele da Volterra, adding that this drawing was possibly re-worked by a later hand and so had lost its original character. In the late 1960s Konrad Oberhuber suggested it was Florentine; and Paul Barolsky, denying an attribution to Daniele, believed it more resembled Pontormo (oral communication). More recently David Franklin suggested an attribution to Bronzino (1994) and Marco Chiarini (1999) to Sodoma. Instead, this large and impressive drawing is Pontormo's only extant cartoon for a portrait. The velvety texture is the result of Pontormo's elaborate re-working, which is built up in many layers, the background filled in first, then the head. Examples earlier in his process are British Museum P.p. 1-57v and Uffizi 452Fr. The present sheet has been highly finished and parts incised for transfer: the upper left outline of the head and chin, the neck and veil. The elegant serenity of the sitter's face, and the somewhat languid line, are similar to Pontormo's work of the late 1530s or 1540s. Although the identity of the sitter is unknown, she recalls faces such as one of the Three Graces (Uffizi 6748F), ca. 1535-1540.  [Bjurström, It. Drawings, cat. no. 1157]

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Jacopo Pontormo | Studie för damporträtt | Nationalmuseum

Jacopo Pontormo | Study for a Portrait of a Lady | Nationalmuseum

Foto: Erik Cornelius / Nationalmuseum 2004

Foto: Erik Cornelius / Nationalmuseum 2010