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Portrait of a Woman
Imitator of: Piero della Francesca (Italian, born about 1415–died in 1492)
Medium/Technique
Tempera on panel
Dimensions
31.4 x 25.4 cm (12 3/8 x 10 in.)
Credit Line
Lucy Houghton Eaton Fund
Accession Number40.237
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
ProvenanceSaid to have been sold by the Counts Conestabile della Staffa, Città di Castello, Umbria, to the Viganò family, Florence [see note 1]; 1940, sold by Mrs. Beatrice Viganò, through Mortimer Brandt Gallery, New York, to the MFA for $60,000. (Accession Date: May 9, 1940)
NOTES:
[1] According to a letter from Mortimer Brandt to W. G. Constable of the MFA (May 3, 1940). In correspondence from Mrs. Viganò to George Edgell, Director of the MFA (July 16, 1940), she states that when it was acquired, the panel had been painted over to represent a saint; the profile of a woman was revealed during a cleaning in 1935. Her letter mentions the Magherini Graziani family in Città di Castello along with Connestabile [sic] della Staffa, though it is unclear whether she meant to say that the former were previous owners of the work as well.
NOTES:
[1] According to a letter from Mortimer Brandt to W. G. Constable of the MFA (May 3, 1940). In correspondence from Mrs. Viganò to George Edgell, Director of the MFA (July 16, 1940), she states that when it was acquired, the panel had been painted over to represent a saint; the profile of a woman was revealed during a cleaning in 1935. Her letter mentions the Magherini Graziani family in Città di Castello along with Connestabile [sic] della Staffa, though it is unclear whether she meant to say that the former were previous owners of the work as well.