id:			148850
accession number:	1976.9
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1976.9
updated:		2019-11-18 11:29:43.798000

Portrait of a Woman, Possibly a Novice of San Secondo, c. 1490. Jacometto Veneziano (Italian, 1497). Oil on wood; framed: 30.5 x 24 x 3 cm (12 x 9 7/16 x 1 3/16 in.); unframed: 24 x 17.5 cm (9 7/16 x 6 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1976.9

title:				Portrait of a Woman, Possibly a Novice of San Secondo
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			c. 1490
creation date earliest:		1485
creation date latest:		1495
current location:		
creditline:			Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
copyright:			

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culture:	Italy, 15th century
technique:	oil on wood
department:	European Painting and Sculpture
collection:	P - Italian 15th Century and earlier
type:		Painting
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

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CREATORS

* Jacometto Veneziano (Italian, 1497)  - artist

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measurements: Framed: 30.5 x 24 x 3 cm (12 x 9 7/16 x 1 3/16 in.); Unframed: 24 x 17.5 cm (9 7/16 x 6 7/8 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

	title:		Year in Review, 1976
	opening date:   1977-02-01T05:00:00
	<i>Year in Review, 1976</i>. The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 1-March 6, 1977).

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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

* London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1924 - 1925: Winter Exhibition, no. 8 (lent by Lord Rochdale, K.C.B., under "unknown artists").<br>Birmingham Art Gallery, August 18 - October 2, 1955:  Italian Art from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century, no. 52 <br>London, Royal Academy, January 2 - March 6, 1960:  Italian Art in Britain, cat no. 352.<br>Stockholm, National Museum, 1962 -1963:  Konstnes Venedig, cat. no. 69<br>CMA, February 1977: Year in Review, cat. no. 43, illus. in color (cover)

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PROVENANCE

	Baron Rochdale, London (1924);
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	(London sale 1948));
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	Kenneth Clark, Saltwood (1948, 1975);
	date: 
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	(Eugene V. Thaw), sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1976.
	date: 
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


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fun fact: 


digital description: 
Scholars have recently speculated that this work does not actually depict a nun, although it has been described as such since 1543. A beautiful young woman presented as saintly, a regular occurrence, the sitter may be the wife or daughter of Alvise Contarini. Her attire, particularly the head garb, may be secular, while some scholars consider it to be Benedictine or Dominican. The San Secondo convent was reserved for daughters of the wealthiest Venetians and conventions of dress were fairly loose until 1515 when strict reforms were enforced by religious and political authorities in Venice.

wall description: 
Despite the distinctive costume, the young woman’s identity remains in doubt. Her headgear may be secular, while others connect it to a Benedictine or Franciscan order of nuns. Venetian portraits of the late 1400s often presented young woman in saintly guises, underscoring the Renaissance idea that portraits should display virtues more than the sitter’s actual character.
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RELATED WORKS

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CITATIONS

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978</em>. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 101
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n121

	Periti, Giancarla. <em>In the Courts of Religious Ladies: Art, Vision, and Pleasure in Italian Renaissance Convents.</em> New Haven: Yale University Press, 2016.
	page number: 	Reproduced: p. 61, plate 48; mentioned: pp. 59-60
	url:		

	Ballarin, Alessandro.<em> Giorgione e l'umanesimo veneziano</em>. Verona: Edizioni dell’Aurora, 2016.
	page number: 	Reproduced: plate 127
	url:		

	Cuzin, Jean-Pierre, et. al.  <em>Le Saint Joseph Charpentier de Georges de la Tour: Un Don au Louvre de Percy Moore Turner</em>. [Gent]: Snoeck, 2017. 2017.
	page number: 	Mentioned: p; 387, p. 510, n. 3394
	url:		

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IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.9/1976.9_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.9/1976.9_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1976.9/1976.9_full.tif