Provenance
(Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi, Florence and Rome); sold 1935 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[1] gift 1939 to NGA.
[1] See also The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/1753.
Accession Number
1939.1.165
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 123.8 x 95.3 cm (48 3/4 x 37 1/2 in.) | framed: 161.9 x 135.9 x 14 cm (63 3/4 x 53 1/2 x 5 1/2 in.)
Classification
Painting
Credit Line
Samuel H. Kress Collection
Tags
Painting Baroque (1600–1750) Oil Painting Canvas Italian
Background & Context
Background Story
Federico Barocci (c. 1526-1612) was an Italian painter known for the sweet, atmospheric religious paintings that make him one of the most important painters of the late Renaissance in central Italy. Quintilia Fischieri from probably c. 1600 is a portrait that demonstrates Barocci's sweet, atmospheric manner applied to portraiture. Barocci is best known for his religious paintings, which combine sweet expression with atmospheric color in a manner that anticipates the Baroque, and this portrait shows how the same sweet, atmospheric manner could be applied to secular portraiture with accomplished results.
Cultural Impact
Quintilia Fischieri is important in the history of Italian late Renaissance painting because it demonstrates Barocci's sweet, atmospheric manner applied to portraiture. Barocci's religious paintings—combining sweet expression with atmospheric color in a manner that anticipates the Baroque—are among the most important paintings of the late Renaissance in central Italy, and this portrait shows how the same manner could be applied to secular portraiture.
Why It Matters
Quintilia Fischieri is Barocci's sweet, atmospheric portraiture: a portrait rendered in the manner of one of the most important painters of the late Renaissance in central Italy, whose religious paintings anticipate the Baroque. The c. 1600 portrait shows Barocci's distinctive sweetness applied to secular portraiture.
