Northern Follower of Titian A lady with a mirror
The Property of a Gentleman
Northern Follower of Titian
A lady with a mirror
oil on oak panel
unframed: 102.6 x 74.5 cm.; 40⅜ x 29⅜ in.
framed: 121 x 94 cm.; 47⅝ x 37 in.
Condition Report:
The panel is uncradled, relatively flat and stable. It has slightly bowed, but this is only really noticeable upon inspection of the inside of the frame, particularly on the left-hand side. The paint surface is clean and the varnish is clear and even, in most parts. Two small losses to the paint surface can be noted, in the lower right corner, close to the edge of the frame. A couple of retouchings are visible to the naked eye: these can be found running in a vertical line, measuring approximately 15 cm. in length, on the woman’s abdomen, and in a couple of spots on the face of the convex mirror. Inspection under ultraviolet light confirms these as retouchings, while also revealing others scattered throughout the composition, all of which have been executed sensitively: these have been used primarily as strengthening in the darker tones and to fill in networks of craquelure. These retouchings can be noted mostly in the hair and on the face of the male figure to the left, on the face and body of the female figure, and on the convex mirror. Overall, the painting is in good condition. It presents well and is ready to hang.
Catalogue Note:
This painting relates closely to the celebrated picture in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, by Titian (1485/90–1576), of about 1515.1 Interestingly, however, there is a notable difference in the depiction of the female figure, who is here presented nude, while in the Louvre painting she is fully clothed. Likewise, the reflection in the mirror upper right is more detailed in the present work than in the Louvre picture.
These elements, combined with the fact that this picture was executed on an oak panel support – a species of wood rarely employed by Italian painters – suggest that it was produced by an artist working north of the Alps. Indeed, the sculptural handling of the woman's anatomy is reminiscent of that found in the work of Vincent Sellaer (1490–1564) and Michiel Coxcie the Elder (1499–1592). In a similar vein, the greater focus on the reflection in the convex mirror – where the artist has sketched out images of the figures from behind, as well as an intriguing allusion to the interior in which they are situated, with a panelled ceiling and a window opening onto a turquoise sky – is characteristic of the work of northern artists since the time of Jan van Eyck (c. 1390–1441).2
A treatment of Titian's composition by Nuremberg painter Barthel Beham (c. 1502–1540), monogrammed with the artist's initials BB (in ligature) and dated 1534, in the Kunstsammlungen und Museen, Augsburg, provides another instance in which a northern artist can be seen to have engaged with this particular design.3 This version portrays the lady attired in the same clothes as the ones she wears in the Louvre painting, but replaces her male suitor with a female attendant. Beham appears to have travelled to Italy and his early biographers recount that he died in Bologna in 1540, so it is possible that he saw Titian's original in Mantua, where the painting likely entered the Gonzaga collection shortly after 1523.4 The existence of other contemporary copies,5 though, combined with Titian's indisputable notoriety throughout Europe during and since his lifetime, suggest that this design may have even been known to artists who had not travelled to the peninsula.
Other variants of Titian's composition in which the female figure is depicted nude are known: these include, among others, the Allegory of Love given to his workshop in the National Gallery of Art, Washington,6 a panel sold at Christie’s London in 1971 (as Flemish School [after Titian]), formerly in the collections of Prince Ourasoff, Prince Menschikoff and Pierre Bezine,7 and a work sold at Christie's New York in 2022 (as Northern Follower of Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian), for $189,000.8 The existence of so many paintings which feature the nude lady could suggest that they all correspond to an autograph painting by Titian of this design that remains untraced.9
1 Inv. no. 755, oil on canvas, 99 x 76 cm.; La Femme au miroir - Louvre Collections.
2 Van Eyck famously experimented with this motif in his Arnolfini Portrait of 1434 in the National Gallery, London: Inv. no. NG186; oil on oak panel, 82.2 x 60 cm.; Jan van Eyck | The Arnolfini Portrait | NG186 | National Gallery, London. Clara Peeters (active circa 1607–1621 or after) and later Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) are among the other northern artists renowned for having played with the artistic possibilities brought about by reflection.
3 Inv. no. L 841; tempera and oil on linden wood, 96.9 x 78.7 cm.
4 This is the earliest known provenance for the Louvre picture; the circumstances of the commission remain unknown. In 1627, the Gonzagas sold the painting to King Charles I of England (1600–1649) and it...
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The Property of a Gentleman
Northern Follower of Titian
A lady with a mirror
oil on oak panel
unframed: 102.6 x 74.5 cm.; 40⅜ x 29⅜ in.
framed: 121 x 94 cm.; 47⅝ x 37 in.
Condition Report:
The panel is uncradled, relatively flat and stable. It has slightly bowed, but this is only really noticeable upon inspection of the inside of the frame, particularly on the left-hand side. The paint surface is clean and the varnish is clear and even, in most parts. Two small losses to the paint surface can be noted, in the lower right corner, close to the edge of the frame. A couple of retouchings are visible to the naked eye: these can be found running in a vertical line, measuring approximately 15 cm. in length, on the woman’s abdomen, and in a couple of spots on the face of the convex mirror. Inspection under ultraviolet light confirms these as retouchings, while also revealing others scattered throughout the composition, all of which have been executed sensitively: these have been used primarily as strengthening in the darker tones and to fill in networks of craquelure. These retouchings can be noted mostly in the hair and on the face of the male figure to the left, on the face and body of the female figure, and on the convex mirror. Overall, the painting is in good condition. It presents well and is ready to hang.
Catalogue Note:
This painting relates closely to the celebrated picture in the Musée du Louvre, Paris, by Titian (1485/90–1576), of about 1515.1 Interestingly, however, there is a notable difference in the depiction of the female figure, who is here presented nude, while in the Louvre painting she is fully clothed. Likewise, the reflection in the mirror upper right is more detailed in the present work than in the Louvre picture.
These elements, combined with the fact that this picture was executed on an oak panel support – a species of wood rarely employed by Italian painters – suggest that it was produced by an artist working north of the Alps. Indeed, the sculptural handling of the woman's anatomy is reminiscent of that found in the work of Vincent Sellaer (1490–1564) and Michiel Coxcie the Elder (1499–1592). In a similar vein, the greater focus on the reflection in the convex mirror – where the artist has sketched out images of the figures from behind, as well as an intriguing allusion to the interior in which they are situated, with a panelled ceiling and a window opening onto a turquoise sky – is characteristic of the work of northern artists since the time of Jan van Eyck (c. 1390–1441).2
A treatment of Titian's composition by Nuremberg painter Barthel Beham (c. 1502–1540), monogrammed with the artist's initials BB (in ligature) and dated 1534, in the Kunstsammlungen und Museen, Augsburg, provides another instance in which a northern artist can be seen to have engaged with this particular design.3 This version portrays the lady attired in the same clothes as the ones she wears in the Louvre painting, but replaces her male suitor with a female attendant. Beham appears to have travelled to Italy and his early biographers recount that he died in Bologna in 1540, so it is possible that he saw Titian's original in Mantua, where the painting likely entered the Gonzaga collection shortly after 1523.4 The existence of other contemporary copies,5 though, combined with Titian's indisputable notoriety throughout Europe during and since his lifetime, suggest that this design may have even been known to artists who had not travelled to the peninsula.
Other variants of Titian's composition in which the female figure is depicted nude are known: these include, among others, the Allegory of Love given to his workshop in the National Gallery of Art, Washington,6 a panel sold at Christie’s London in 1971 (as Flemish School [after Titian]), formerly in the collections of Prince Ourasoff, Prince Menschikoff and Pierre Bezine,7 and a work sold at Christie's New York in 2022 (as Northern Follower of Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian), for $189,000.8 The existence of so many paintings which feature the nude lady could suggest that they all correspond to an autograph painting by Titian of this design that remains untraced.9
1 Inv. no. 755, oil on canvas, 99 x 76 cm.; La Femme au miroir - Louvre Collections.
2 Van Eyck famously experimented with this motif in his Arnolfini Portrait of 1434 in the National Gallery, London: Inv. no. NG186; oil on oak panel, 82.2 x 60 cm.; Jan van Eyck | The Arnolfini Portrait | NG186 | National Gallery, London. Clara Peeters (active circa 1607–1621 or after) and later Johannes Vermeer (1632–1675) are among the other northern artists renowned for having played with the artistic possibilities brought about by reflection.
3 Inv. no. L 841; tempera and oil on linden wood, 96.9 x 78.7 cm.
4 This is the earliest known provenance for the Louvre picture; the circumstances of the commission remain unknown. In 1627, the Gonzagas sold the painting to King Charles I of England (1600–1649) and it...
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