Oil on canvas, 'Giovanna of Aragon', after Raphael, late 18th century

A young woman with long blond hair wearing a scarlet velvet dress and puffed sleeves with slashes through which the white chemise can be seen as well as a large-rimmed hat decorated with lavish brooches. The scene is set in the interior of a Renaissance palace with on the left a portico opening onto a hilly landscape at dawn with a woman seen from the back.

The Lady Bettine Abingdon Collection. Bequeathed by Mrs T. R. P. Hole

The Lady Bettine Abingdon Collection. Bequeathed by Mrs T. R. P. Hole, 1987. Listed as Lot 783 in the Highcliffe sale.

Historical significance: This painting is a copy of the celebrated Portrait of Giovanna of Aragon painted by Raphael shortly before 1518 and now preserved in the Louvre, Paris (INV 612).
It shows a young woman with long blond hair, bust length in three-quarter profile, wearing a scarlet velvet dress and puffed sleeves with slashes (‘finestrelle’) through which the white chemise can be seen, typical of the first quarter of the 16th century. A large-rimmed hat decorated with lavish brooches completes her outfit. In the background are distinguishable elements of the interior decoration of a rich Renaissance palace with in the left a portico opening onto a hilly landscape at dawn with a woman seen from the back.
The sitter, Giovanna of Aragon (c. 1500-1577), was the daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon, granddaughter of the King of Naples and the wife of Count Ascanio Colonna, Constable of the Kingdom of Naples. She was approximately 16 years old when her portrait was done, the age at which a young noble woman would marry in those days.
The original painting was commissioned by Pope Leo X as a gift for the cardinal Bibbiena to the King Francis I of France. It was seen by Alfonso d’Este, Duke of Ferrara, in Fontainebleau in 1518 while G. Vasari records that Raphael painted the portrait after nature.
This picture reveals a radical shift in conception and is therefore considered as a major point of departure in the development of state portraits during the 16th century (M. Jenkins, 1947) along with, for instance, the contemporary portrait of Lorenzo de’ Medici also by Raphael and the portrait of Alfonso d’Este executed by Titian soon after. According to Paola Tinagli (1997), the portrait of Giovanna of Aragon gave a fine example of refinement and ease that met the requirements for the visual expression of the aristocratic ideal set out later in Baldassar Castiglione’s Il Cortegiano (1528), becoming thus the prototype for the representation of wives of rulers.
Giulio Romano, Raphael’s pupil and collaborator, also executed a Portrait of Giovanna of Aragon, Louvre, Paris (INV 655), which he copied after Raphael’s composition. This work is also considered as a masterpiece although it is comparatively lacking of expressiveness and vital unity.
Raphael’s original was later engraved by J. Chéreau in 1729.
The present copy shows much more intense colouring and was executed in a cooler palette, especially in the tones of the flesh slightly bluish compared with the original. The porcelain-like smoothness of the brushwork as well as the features of the face are somehow reminiscent of the Neoclassical taste, predominant in Europe between about 1750 and 1830, and deeply inspired by the example of Raphael and, above all, Poussin. This copy was therefore probably executed during the late 18th century.

In his encyclopaedic work, Historia Naturalis, the ancient Roman author Pliny the Elder described the origins of painting in the outlining of a man's projected shadow in profile. In the ancient period, profile portraits were found primarily in imperial coins. With the rediscovery and the increasing interest in the Antique during the early Renaissance, artists and craftsmen looked back to this ancient tradition and created medals with profile portraits on the obverse and personal devise on the reverse in order to commemorate and celebrate the sitter. Over time these profile portraits were also depicted on panels and canvas, and progressively evolved towards three-quarter and eventually frontal portraits.
These portraits differ in many ways from the notion of portraiture commonly held today as they especially aimed to represent an idealised image of the sitter and reflect therefore a different conception of identity. The sitter's likeness was more or less recognisable but his particular status and familiar role were represented in his garments and attributes referring to his character. The 16th century especially developed the ideal of metaphorical and visual attributes through the elaboration of highly complex portrait paintings in many formats including at the end of the century full-length portraiture. Along with other devices specific to the Italian Renaissance such as birth trays (deschi da parto) and wedding chests' decorated panels (cassoni or forzieri), portrait paintings participated to the emphasis on the individual.

Raphael (1483-1520) was born in Urbino and trained with Perugino, the master of Pinturicchio. A stay in Florence between 1504 and 1508 was decisive for his artistic development as he changed significantly his manner while he became familiar with the works of the great Florentine masters such as Leonardo and Botticelli among others. He was later summoned to the papal court in Rome where he stayed until his death in 1520, decorating affresco the papal chambers in the Vatican and creating an impressive series of portraits and independent easel paintings of religious subject matters. Raphael had many pupils among whom the most notables were Giulio Romano, Perino del Vaga and Polidoro da Caravaggio.

This painting is a copy after Raphael's Portrait of Giovanna of Aragon, the wife of Count Ascanio Colonna, Constable of the Kingdom of Naples. It shows the young woman lavishly dressed in a typical early 16th-century fashion with elements of a refined Renaissance palazzo's interior in the background. The original painting was commissioned by Pope Leo X and offered to Francis I, King of France in 1518. This copy probably dates from the late 18th century.

P.30-1987