Portrait of a Lady, ca. 1530 – 1540

About the Work

The painter behind this portrait remains unidentified. A monumental Italian portrait in combination with a landscape in the Flemish style seems contradictory at first, and the list of painters to whom it has been attributed is long and diverse and includes such names as: Jan van Scorel, Sodoma, Dosso Dossi, Parmigianino, Bronzino, Girolamo da Carpi, Nicolò dell’Abate and Pieter de Kempeneer. At the Städel it was indeed attributed to Kempeneer until recently. But a comparison with the double portrait of Marco Bracci and Cardinal Ippolito de’ Medici in the National Gallery in London, which is by the same hand and can be attributed with some confidence to Girolamo da Carpi, now suggests this important Ferrarese painter was more likely the author of the Städel picture.