Feminae: Medieval Women and Gender Index


  • Record Number: 17370
  • Author(s)/Creator(s): Knauer , Elfrieda Regina.
  • Contributor(s):
  • Title: Portrait of a Lady? Some Reflections on Images of Prostitutes from the Later Fifteenth Century [The author concentrates on a painting of a woman attributed to Jacometto Veneziano (now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art). She argues that the woman is a prostitute, and that the artist emphasizes her thinning hair, wrinkles, and other defects associated with prostitution. The author suggests that the inscription on the back of the panel should be translated as: "The whore dedicated herself to wantonness, license, lewdness." Title note supplied by Feminae.].
  • Source: Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome 47, ( 2002): Pages 95 - 117.
  • Description:
  • Article Type: Journal Article
  • Subject (See Also): Art History- Painting Clothing Portraits Prostitutes in Art Veneziano, Jacometto (Attributed), Painter- Portrait of a Lady Venice Women in Art
  • Award Note:
  • Geographic Area: Italy
  • Century: 15
  • Primary Evidence: Painting; Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art, "Portrait of a Lady." Oil painting on panel, dated between 1480 and 1490. The Latin inscription on the reverse reads: V LLLL FDELITIIS ANIMUM EXPLEPOST MORTEMA VOLUP TAS.
  • Illustrations: Ten figures. Figure One Jacometto Veneziano (attributed to), "Portrait of a Lady" (Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art). Figure Two Jacometto Veneziano (attributed to), reverse of "Portrait of a Lady" (Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art). Figure Three Palma Vecchio, "Portrait of a Woman," detail (Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Stiftung Preussischer Kulturbesitz, no. 80). Figure Four Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet, "The Gotha Lovers" (Gotha (Germany), Schlossmuseum). Figure Five Heinrich Wittenwiler, "Grotesque Lovers," (Meiningen (Germany), Thüringisches Staatsarchiv, ZM 1583). Figure Six Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet, "Youth and Amorous Old Woman" (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet). Figure Seven Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet, "Young Girl and Amorous Old Man" (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, Rijksprentenkabinet). Figure Eight Jacopo de'Barbari, "Old Man Embracing a Young Girl" (Philadelphia, Philadelphia Museum of Art). Figure Nine Lorenzo Lotto, "Lucrezia" (London, The National Gallery). Figure Ten Titian, "Allegory of Vanity," detail (Munich, Alte Pinakothek).
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  • Conference Info: - , -
  • Year of Publication: 2002.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN/ISBN: 00656801