Emilia di Spilimbergo
c. 1560
Painter, Venetian, 1488/1490 - 1576
Painter, Venetian, 1528 - 1560
A pair of portraits of Emilia di Spilimbergo and her younger sister Irene was begun in about 1558, most likely in anticipation of their prospective marriages. The initial reason may have been to present two highly eligible, aristocratic young women to potential husbands, or the portraits may have been intended as permanent mementos for the sisters’ family after they were married. In either case, the rationale shifted when Irene died tragically the following year.
Too little information exists about Emilia’s biography to know for certain why the seascape to the right shows a storm-tossed ship, but since the two portraits were almost certainly painted contemporaneously, the motif probably alludes to the turbulent state of her emotions after the loss of her sister.
A few months after Irene’s death, the sisters’ grandfather, the wealthy Venetian citizen Zuan Paolo da Ponte, noted in his journal that he was dissatisfied with a portrait of Irene—and presumably also one of Emilia—that had been begun two years previously by Gian Paolo Pace. The patron asked Titian, who years earlier had painted Zuan Paolo’s own portrait and that of Giulia, the sisters’ mother, to complete it. However, at that stage of his career, Titian himself would have been devoting his best efforts almost exclusively to King Philip II of Spain. The master would have likely delegated a request of this kind to one of the assistants in his workshop.
Artwork overview
-
Medium
oil on canvas
-
Credit Line
-
Dimensions
overall: 122 x 106.5 cm (48 1/16 x 41 15/16 in.)
-
Accession
1942.9.82
More About this Artwork
Artwork history & notes
Provenance
Commissioned by the Spilimbergo family, Spilimbergo, Italy; by inheritance to Count Giulio di Spilimbergo, Domanins, by 1819;[1] by inheritance to Count Niccolò d'Attimis Maniago, Florence, by 1904;[2] and Count Enrico d'Attimis Maniago, Florence until 1909; Elia Volpi [1858-1938], Florence; sold 1909 to (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London and New York); sold October 1909 to Peter A.B. Widener [1834-1915], Elkins Park, Pennsylvania;[3] Inheritance from the Estate of Peter A.B. Widener by gift through power of appointment of Joseph E. Widener, Elkins Park.
[1] Fabio di Maniago, Storia delle belle arti friulane, Udine, 1819: 201.
[2] Recorded in his possession by Oskar Fischel, Tizian: Des Meisters Gemälde, Stuttgart [u.a.], 1904: 195.
[3] Corrado Ricci, “Ritratti ‘tizianeschi’ di Gian Paolo Pace,” Rivista del R. Istituto d’Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte 7 (1929): 257-258. The 1909 Duveen Brothers stock book for their New York office records this painting and NGA 1942.9.83 as "bt. Count Maniago, Florence." See Duveen Brothers Records, accession number 960015, Research Library, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles: Series I.A. New York House, 1886-1960; sales, 1901-1910, p. 62, reel 4, box 5; stock book, 1909, p. 76, reel 5, box 6; copies in NGA curatorial files.
Associated Names
Bibliography
1819
Di Maniago, Fabio. Storia della Belle Arti Friulane. Udine, 1819: 88-90.
1829
Hume, Abraham. Notices of the Life and Works of Titian. London, 1829: 47.
1838
Carrer, Luigi. Anello di Sette Gemme. Venice, 1838: 695.
1877
Crowe, Joseph Archer, and Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle. Titian, His Life and Times. 2 vols. London, 1877: 2:301-303.
1894
Berenson, Bernard. The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance. New York and London, 1894: 143.
1900
Gronau, Georg. Tizian. Berlin, 1900: 168-169.
1901
Venturi, Adolfo. Storia dell’arte italiana. 11 vols. Milan, 1901-1940: 9, part 3(1928):167.
1904
Fischel, Oskar. Tizian: Des Meisters Gemälde. Stuttgart [u.a.], 1904: 195.
1905
Reinach, Salomon. Répertoire de peintures du moyen âge et de la Renaissance (1280-1580). 6 vols. Paris, 1905-1923: 6(1923):76.
1907
Gronau, Georg. “Gian Paolo Pace.” In Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart. Edited by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. 37 vols. Leipzig, 1907-1950: 26(1932):117.
1910
Ulm, Oscar. “I ritratti d'Irene ed Emilia di Spilimbergo erroneamente attribuiti a Tiziano.” Emporium 31 (1910): 126-135.
1911
Carreri, Ferruccio. "Report in La Difesa, 17–18 August 1911." Reproduced in L’Arte 14 (1911): 394.
1914
Ridolfi, Carlo. Le maraviglie dell’arte, overo Le vite de gl'illustri pittori veneti, e dello Stato (Venice, 1648). Edited by Detlev von Hadeln. 2 vols. Berlin, 1914-1924: 1(1914):194.
1916
Berenson, Bernard, and William Roberts. Pictures in the Collection of P.A.B. Widener at Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania: Early Italian and Spanish Schools. Philadelphia, 1916: unpaginated, repro., as by Titian.
1923
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1923: unpaginated, repro.
1924
Fischel, Oskar. Tizian: Des Meisters Gemälde. 5th ed. Stuttgart, 1924: 208-209.
1926
Molmenti, Pompeo. La storia di Venezia nella vita privata dalle origini alla caduta della Repubblica. 3 vols. Bergamo, 1926–1928: 2(1928):122, 249, 275, 373-374.
1929
Ricci, Corrado. “Ritratti ‘tizianeschi’ di Gian Paolo Pace.” Rivista del R. Istituto d’Archeologia e Storia dell’Arte 7 (1929): 257-258.
1931
Paintings in the Collection of Joseph Widener at Lynnewood Hall. Intro. by Wilhelm R. Valentiner. Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, 1931: 110, repro., as by Titian.
1932
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance: A List of the Principal Artists and Their Works with an Index of Places. Oxford, 1932: 574.
1938
Waldmann, Emil. “Die Sammlung Widener.” Pantheon 21–22 (1938): 340.
1941
Duveen Brothers. Duveen Pictures in Public Collections of America. New York, 1941: no. 161, repro., as by Titian.
1942
Works of Art from the Widener Collection. Foreword by David Finley and John Walker. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 7, as by Titian.
1948
Paintings and Sculpture from the Widener Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1948 (reprinted 1959): 24, repro., as by Titian.
1949
Muraro, Michelangelo. “Il memoriale de Zuan Paolo da Ponte.” Archivio Veneto 79 (1949): 82-84.
1953
Tietze, Hans, and Erica Tietze-Conrat. “I ritratti Spilimbergo a Washington.” Emporium 67 (1953): 99-107.
1957
Berenson, Bernard. Italian Pictures of the Renaissance. Venetian School. 2 vols. London, 1957: 1:192.
Camesasca, Ettore, ed. Lettere sull’Arte di Pietro Aretino. Commentate da Fidenzio Pertile. 3 vols. Milan, 1957-1960: 3(1960):397.
1960
Valcanover, Francesco. Tutta la pittura di Tiziano. 2 vols. Milan, 1960: 2:70.
1965
Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 130.
1968
National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 117, repro.
1969
Pallucchini, Rodolfo. Tiziano. 2 vols. Florence, 1969: 1:221.
Wethey, Harold. The Paintings of Titian. 3 vols. London, 1969-1975: 2(1971):178, 198.
Valcanover, Francesco. L’opera completa di Tiziano. Milan, 1969: 141, no. 632.
1972
Fredericksen, Burton B., and Federico Zeri. Census of Pre-Nineteenth Century Italian Paintings in North American Public Collections. Cambridge, Mass., 1972: 203, 517, 646.
1975
European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 344, repro.
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: 211, no. 262, color repro.
1979
Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979: 1:500-503; 2:pl. 351.
1980
Heinemann, Fritz. “La bottega di Tiziano.” In Tiziano e Venezia: convegno internazionale di studi (1976). Vicenza, 1980: 438.
1984
Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 210, no. 256, colorr repro.
1985
European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 399, repro.
1991
Kopper, Philip. America's National Gallery of Art: A Gift to the Nation. New York, 1991: 193, repro.
Schutte, Anne Jacobsen. “Irene di Spilimbergo: The Image of a Creative Woman in Late Renaissance Italy.” Renaissance Quarterly 44 (1991): 44.
1993
Lloyd, Christopher. Italian Paintings before 1600 in the Art Institute of Chicago. Princeton, 1993: 248.
Ferrazza, Roberta. Palazzo Davanzati e le collezioni di Elia Volpi. Florence, 1993: 101 fig. 95, 104-105, 137-138 nn. 81-86, 196 fig. 198.
1995
King, Catherine. “Looking a Sight: Sixteenth-Century Portraits of Woman Artists.” Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte 58 (1995): 391.
1999
Burke, Peter. “Il ritratto veneziano del Cinquecento.” In Pittura nel Veneto. Il Cinquecento. Edited by Mauro Lucco. 3 vols. Milan, 1996-1999: 3(1999):1108.
2001
Pedrocco, Filippo. Titian: The Complete Paintings. New York, 2001: 31.
2002
Quodbach, Esmée. "The Last of the American Versailles: The Widener Collection at Lynnewood Hall." Simiolus 29, no. 1/2 (2002): 70, 95.
2005
Borean, Linda. “Il carteggio di Abraham Hume e Giovanni Maria Sasso.” In Il Collezionismo a Venezia e nel Veneto ai Tempi della Serenissima. Edited by Bernard Aikema, Rosella Lauber and Max Seidel. Venice, 2005: 338.
Furlan, Caterina. “Tiziano nella storiografia artistica friulana tra Sette e Ottocento.” Studi Tizianeschi 3 (2005): 92-95.
2006
Dal Pozzolo, Enrico Maria. “La ‘bottega’ di Tiziano: sistema solare e buco nero.” Studi Tizianeschi 4 (2006): 80.
2009
Tagliaferro, Giorgio, and Bernard Aikema, with Matteo Mancini and Andrew John. Le botteghe di Tiziano. Florence, 2009: 61-62, 121, 160, 168-172, 201.
2012
Biffis, Mattia. “Di Zuan Paolo Pace, chierico e laico”. Studi Tizianeschi 7 (2012): 55-56, 64.
Hale, Sheila. Titian: His Life. London, 2012: 585.
2017
Van Kessel, Elsje. The Lives of Paintings: Presence, Agency and Likeness in Venetian Art of the Sixteenth Century. Berlin, 2017: 131-179.
Wikidata ID
Q20176614