Woman in Profile
sculptor
Mino da Fiesole
(1429 - 1484, Florence)
Dateabout 1475
Place MadeFlorence, Tuscany, Italy, Europe
MediumMarble
Dimensions33.7 x 27.9 cm (13 1/4 x 11 in.)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberS27w77
eMuseum ID725060
EmbARK ObjectID12424
TMS Source ID1548
Last Updated8/9/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryMino da Fiesole was a brilliant marble carver, creating tombs and portraits for leading citizens of Florence and Rome. His portrait bust of Piero de’ Medici of 1453–54 initiated the revival of an ancient Roman type of portraiture, the marble bust. He also carved marble portrait reliefs and reliefs representing Roman emperors. The sculpture in the Gardner Museum displays aspects of both forms – the sharp profile combined with the strongly projecting left shoulder, which breaks the boundary of the relief plane and evokes a three-dimensional bust. The relief presents a woman dressed in a simple robe that is tied in the front and back into bows. Her hair is tightly braided at the back, but loose, unruly curls fall from a knot at the top of her head. The profile is sharply undercut and traces the slight curve of her nose, her soft double-chin, and her long, columnar neck. She is splendid (as Berenson says) and powerful, her chin slightly raised and her gaze direct and steady. Yet these very qualities – her power and splendor – argue against this being a portrait of a particular Florentine woman. She wears no jewels and her dress is not rich brocade, but simple and plain. She has more in common with Mino da Fiesole’s reliefs of Roman emperors than with the elegantly bedecked and bejeweled female sitters typical of Florentine portraits of the fifteenth century. She may instead represent an ancient Roman heroine or empress, a model of virtue for the contemporary Florentine woman rather than a portrait of an individual.
When Bernard Berenson wrote to Isabella Stewart Gardner to recommend this relief, he believed it represented a member of the Antinori family, since the relief came from the Palazzo Antinori-Aldobrandini in Florence.
Source: Marietta Cambareri, "Woman in Profile," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 60.
When Bernard Berenson wrote to Isabella Stewart Gardner to recommend this relief, he believed it represented a member of the Antinori family, since the relief came from the Palazzo Antinori-Aldobrandini in Florence.
Source: Marietta Cambareri, "Woman in Profile," in Eye of the Beholder, edited by Alan Chong et al. (Boston: ISGM and Beacon Press, 2003): 60.
BibliographyNotesCatalogue. Fenway Court. (Boston, 1903), p. 23. (as by Mino da Fiesole)
Wilhelm von Bode. Denkmäler der renaissance-sculptur Toscanas: in historischer anordnung (Munich, 1892-1905), pp. 121, 224, pl. 399c. (the plate was printed in 1902; as by Mino da Fiesole)
Diego Angeli. Mino da Fiesole (Florence, 1905), p. 69. (as a copy of a similar work now housed in the Bargello, Florence, inventory no. 72)
Morris Carter. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (Boston, 1925; Reprint, Boston, 1972), p. 197.
Hildegard Lange. Mino da Fiesole: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der florentinischen und römischen Plastik des Quattrocentos. PhD Diss. (Munich: Ludwig-Maximillans-Universität, 1928), p. 111. (as in the style of Mino)
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), pp. 232-33. (as by Mino da Fiesole; the subject as presumably a member of the Antinori family)
George L. Stout. Treasures from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1969), pp. 190-91, ill. (as by Mino)
Gianni Carlo Sciolla. La scultura di Mino da Fiesole (Turin, 1970), p. 76. (quoting Angeli; as a copy of the Bargello relief)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), pp. 108-09, no. 138. (as by Mino da Fiesole, about 1475-1480)
Rollin van N. Hadley. Museums Discovered: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1981), pp. 152-53, ill. (as by Mino, about 1475-1480)
Rollin van N. Hadley (ed.). The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner 1887-1924 (Boston, 1987), pp. 170-74, 179, 203, 206-07.
Hilliard Goldfarb. Imaging the Self in Renaissance Italy. Exploring Treasures in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum III. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1992), pp. 14-16, ill. (as by Mino)
Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), pp. 60-61, ill. (as by Mino, about 1475)
Francesco Sorce. "Mino da Fiesole." Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana. Dizonario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 74 (2010), accessed 2014. http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/mino-da-fiesole_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29/. (as by Mino; the subject as Faustina Minore)
Roberto Manescalchi. L'Ercole di Piero: Tra mito e realtà I (Florence, 2012), p. 74. (as the work of "or alleged work of" Mino)
Wayne Craven. Stanford White: Decorator in Opulence and Dealer in Antiquities (New York, 2013), p. 59. (as by Mino)
Anita F. Moskowitz. Forging Authenticity: Bastianini and the Neo-Renaissance in Nineteenth-Century Florence (Florence, 2013), p. 15, n77, p. 20. (as by Mino)
Patrizia Cappellini. "The Art Dealer and the Devil: Remarks on the Relationship of Elia Volpi and Wilhelm von Bode" in Dealing Art on Both Sides of the Atlantic, 1860-1940 (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2017), p. 187.
Brunella Teodori et al. Dall'asta al museo: Elia Volpi e Palazzo Davanzati nel collezionismo pubblico e privato del Novecento (Florence: Edizioni Polistampa, 2017), pp. 18, 43. (as by Mino)
Wilhelm von Bode. Denkmäler der renaissance-sculptur Toscanas: in historischer anordnung (Munich, 1892-1905), pp. 121, 224, pl. 399c. (the plate was printed in 1902; as by Mino da Fiesole)
Diego Angeli. Mino da Fiesole (Florence, 1905), p. 69. (as a copy of a similar work now housed in the Bargello, Florence, inventory no. 72)
Morris Carter. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (Boston, 1925; Reprint, Boston, 1972), p. 197.
Hildegard Lange. Mino da Fiesole: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der florentinischen und römischen Plastik des Quattrocentos. PhD Diss. (Munich: Ludwig-Maximillans-Universität, 1928), p. 111. (as in the style of Mino)
Gilbert Wendel Longstreet and Morris Carter. General Catalogue (Boston, 1935), pp. 232-33. (as by Mino da Fiesole; the subject as presumably a member of the Antinori family)
George L. Stout. Treasures from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1969), pp. 190-91, ill. (as by Mino)
Gianni Carlo Sciolla. La scultura di Mino da Fiesole (Turin, 1970), p. 76. (quoting Angeli; as a copy of the Bargello relief)
Cornelius C. Vermeule III et al. Sculpture in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1977), pp. 108-09, no. 138. (as by Mino da Fiesole, about 1475-1480)
Rollin van N. Hadley. Museums Discovered: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1981), pp. 152-53, ill. (as by Mino, about 1475-1480)
Rollin van N. Hadley (ed.). The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner 1887-1924 (Boston, 1987), pp. 170-74, 179, 203, 206-07.
Hilliard Goldfarb. Imaging the Self in Renaissance Italy. Exploring Treasures in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum III. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1992), pp. 14-16, ill. (as by Mino)
Alan Chong et al. (eds.) Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 2003), pp. 60-61, ill. (as by Mino, about 1475)
Francesco Sorce. "Mino da Fiesole." Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana. Dizonario Biografico degli Italiani, vol. 74 (2010), accessed 2014. http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/mino-da-fiesole_%28Dizionario-Biografico%29/. (as by Mino; the subject as Faustina Minore)
Roberto Manescalchi. L'Ercole di Piero: Tra mito e realtà I (Florence, 2012), p. 74. (as the work of "or alleged work of" Mino)
Wayne Craven. Stanford White: Decorator in Opulence and Dealer in Antiquities (New York, 2013), p. 59. (as by Mino)
Anita F. Moskowitz. Forging Authenticity: Bastianini and the Neo-Renaissance in Nineteenth-Century Florence (Florence, 2013), p. 15, n77, p. 20. (as by Mino)
Patrizia Cappellini. "The Art Dealer and the Devil: Remarks on the Relationship of Elia Volpi and Wilhelm von Bode" in Dealing Art on Both Sides of the Atlantic, 1860-1940 (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2017), p. 187.
Brunella Teodori et al. Dall'asta al museo: Elia Volpi e Palazzo Davanzati nel collezionismo pubblico e privato del Novecento (Florence: Edizioni Polistampa, 2017), pp. 18, 43. (as by Mino)
ProvenanceNotesFrom the Palazzo Antinori-Aldobrandini, Florence.
Purchased by the art dealer Elia Volpi (1858-1938), Florence from the Antinori collection, Florence by the late 19th century.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Elia Volpi for £1,000 in April 1899, through the American art historian Bernard Berenson (1865-1959).
Purchased by the art dealer Elia Volpi (1858-1938), Florence from the Antinori collection, Florence by the late 19th century.
Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner from Elia Volpi for £1,000 in April 1899, through the American art historian Bernard Berenson (1865-1959).
Nicolò da Ponte
26 August 1578
Object/Provenance
