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Can anyone identify this painting?

Started by PrincessSara, March 06, 2010, 03:12:55 PM

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PrincessSara

I found this painting on a Yahoo group and fell in love with it.  It's apparently from Hochosterwitz in Austria, but the poster didn't include any other information.  Anyone recognize it?


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PrincessSara


operafantomet

#3
I know nothing of it, but I can take a guess...

It looks 16th century to me. The underdress and overdress looks more southern European in style (I see French inspiration in particular), while the hat looks more German.

Wikipedia has this to say re: the Hochosterwitz castle:
Over the next thirty years the castle was badly damaged by numerous Turkish invasions. On 5 October 1509, Emperor Maximilian I handed the castle, as a pledge, to Matthäus Lang, Bishop of Gurk.[4] Bishop Lang undertook a substantial renovation project for the damaged castle.

About 1541 Emperor Ferdinand I bestowed Hochosterwitz upon governor Christof Khevenhüller. In 1571, Baron George Khevenhüller acquired the citadel by purchase. He fortified to deal with the threat of Turkish invasions of the region, building an armoury and 14 gates from 1570-1586. Such massive fortification is considered unique in citadel construction. Because of the 14 gates, each equipped with different treacherous methods of guarding the path, local legend maintains that the castle has never been conquered.

( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hochosterwitz_Castle )

The one you posted seem to date from between 1500 and 1550 sometime. Based on the hat I would date it early in the century, but the wide, slashed sleeves and the T decorated bodice seems to be of a later style. So... 1550s? Might be even later, if you compare to portraits of Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France, and Helena von Snakenborg. But none of them sport the overdress, and again, that hat....

Hmmm...

CenturiesSewing

Quote from: operafantomet on March 07, 2010, 05:17:32 AM

The one you posted seem to date from between 1500 and 1550 sometime. Based on the hat I would date it early in the century, but the wide, slashed sleeves and the T decorated bodice seems to be of a later style. So... 1550s? Might be even later, if you compare to portraits of Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of France, and Helena von Snakenborg. But none of them sport the overdress, and again, that hat....

Hmmm...


She also seems to be sporting a suit of ruffs with well defined setts. I Wish we could see the coat of arms at her feet, it might give some clue to who she is.

operafantomet

If you have access to Jstor (though an university or similar) it might give you some further clues/info. Alas it's closed to the public, though I can see why they want some sort of payement for putting all that stuff online. It's an amazing research site for art and humaniora.

The coat-of-arms seems to sport a lion on two feet, similar to coat-of-arm of Norway:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Coat_of_Arms_of_Norway.svg

That lion rampant has been used for many, many coat-of-arms, so I fear it doesn't give me any clues. It might also be a dragon or lion of some sort, but the lion seems more proper. It's placed on a background of "golden" (or) and "silver" (argent) stripes, but I agree that it would be very useful to see the bottom half too... Closest I've found is the Luxenbourg coat-of-arms, which is a black rampant lion on blue and silver stripes.

I'm thinking the one above might be specific to one marriage, combining the heraldry of the bride with that of the groom.

gem

Sara, you might have to dig pretty deep to find more info on it. Can you start by maybe finding a book about the castle itself? Or something that mentions its art treasures? It took me ages of cross-referencing bibliographies to find a really good image of the Promenade tapestry, and I finally had to have my library borrow a book from France! In French, but it finally did have large color images of the whole series.

Good luck--it's a gorgeous ensemble. Let us know what you find out!

Ludovi

Is this the only image of it you have? My medieval art professor may be able to tell me what it is from if I could get a larger photograph of it.