Artwork story
About Portrait of a Woman, possibly Ginevra d'Antonio Lupari Gozzadini
The artist and artwork
Portrait of a Woman, possibly Ginevra d'Antonio Lupari Gozzadini is a tempera-on-wood panel dated 1494 with a question mark. The painting is attributed to the Maestro delle Storie del Pane, an unidentified Emilian artist active in the late fifteenth century; both maker and sitter therefore require caution. The woman appears in strict profile, her carefully bound hair, black neckband, patterned sleeve, green bodice, and jewel presented with almost heraldic precision.
The world around it
Fifteenth-century Italy experienced Europe's first great Renaissance age of portraiture. Likenesses could mark marriage, death, political office, family memory, beauty, or status. The Met notes that women were often shown in profile, a convention that displayed dress and delicately outlined features without implying an immodest exchange of glances. Probably commissioned for a Gozzadini betrothal or marriage in Bologna, this portrait belongs to a world where marriage joined families and nuptial objects expressed dynastic and political aspirations.
A detail to notice
The woman once faced a male pendant, possibly Matteo di Sebastiano di Bernardino Gozzadini. Their family arms appear on both panels, and an architectural inscription continues across them: VT SIT NOSTRA FORMA SVPERSTES, 'In order that our features may survive.' The sentence explains the portrait's purpose while the landscape turns marriage ideals into a miniature world. The woman holds a fruit, perhaps a quince. At lower right two rabbits signify fecundity, while a girl confronts a unicorn associated with chastity; across the pair, the man holds pinks linked with love. The sitter's monumental profile nearly blocks a dark window, yet beyond her are blue water, boats, distant buildings, a horse, a woman, and tiny animals. Identity remains uncertain, but the intended memory is highly specific: family, marriage, fertility, chastity, possessions, and place compressed into one surviving face.
Look closer: materials, scale, and subjects
The recorded object is painting made in Tempera on wood and held in the Robert Lehman Collection department.
Recorded dimensions include Overall 19 3/4 x 14 5/8 in. (50.2 x 37.1 cm); painted surface 19 1/8 x 14 1/8 in. (48.6 x 35.9 cm).
Subject terms include Portraits, Profiles, Women, Horses, and Coat of Arms. Treat them as guideposts, not a complete interpretation.
Collection history and public-domain source
The collection credit line is Robert Lehman Collection, 1975.
The individual artwork page and official image were verified as Public Domain on 2026-08-23.
No Context Gallery independently uses the public-domain image. The source museum has not endorsed, sponsored, or affiliated itself with these products.
Research sources
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