Portrait of a lady in red wearing a ruff,
oil on panel, 40 x 26.7 cm, framed

Provenance:
Sir Percy Malcolm Stewart, 1st Baronet (1872–1951), The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire;
by descent to the former owner

The present painting was part of an outstanding collection of English portraits from the Tudor and Stuart periods owned by Sir Percy Stewart. Sir Percy partially left the collection to the National Trust, where it is now exhibited at Montacute House, South Somerset.

The present painting was formerly regarded as a work by François Clouet or a member of his school. Today we know that it was painted in Flanders (we are grateful to Alexandra Zvereva for her help). It belongs to a group of small female portraits and probably formed part of a so-called ‘Gallery of Beauties’, which was extremely popular at European courts in those days. Given the high degree of idealisation and the fact that this was an international phenomenon, it is difficult to identify individual artists or the names of the ladies depicted. In the present case the painter may possibly be determined through comparison of the portrait in question with other works. It is probably by the same hand as a portrait sold at Christie’s, London, on 4 July 2012. This latter work allegedly shows Hürrem Haseki Sultan, also known as Roxelana. In all likelihood it is based on a lost portrait by Titian and is inscribed: DI MANO FIAM(MINGO). A further example belonging to this group is a female portrait relying on Bronzino, which was sold at Sotheby’s, London, on 6 December 2005 as lot 560 (‘Florentine School c. 1580’). The sitter was identified as a member of the House of Medici. Several stylistic and technical similarities between these paintings suggest that they formed part of a group and were painted by one and the same artist, who might have been a Fleming active at Italian courts. Another painting that seems to form part of this group is in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua (cf. B. W. Meijer, Repertory of Dutch and Flemish Paintings in Italian Public Collections, vol. 2, part 2, Florence, 2002, p. 98). It is attributed to the Flemish painter Jean (Giannino) Bahuet (Liège c.1552–1597 Mantua), the court painter to Duke Vincenzo I Gonzaga.

Bahuet painted almost exclusively such idealised female portraits, which the duke presented in his ‘Gallery of Beauties’. Moreover, he also executed numerous copies of portraits he found at neighbouring courts. It is known that the duke also commissioned Rubens with the production of replicas based on famous models when the artist stayed at the Mantua court. Bahuet is documented to have been in Florence as early as 1575, where he copied portraits of Grand Duke Francesco I and his daughter, Eleonora de’ Medici (cf. V. Pagani, Notes on a Flemish Portraitist at the Court of Vincenzo Gonzaga, in: The Burlington Magazine, vol. 129, no. 1007, February 1987, pp. 110–115). After Bahuet’s death in 1597, his position remained vacant until the arrival of Frans Pourbus the Younger (1600).

Most of Bahuet’s works are lost. Nevertheless attempts are made to reconstruct his oeuvre. The inscription ‘DI MANO FIAM(MINGO)’ on the reverse of the portrait of Roxelana sold in 2012 seems to refer not only to the painter’s nationality, but also to his name. The account books of the ducal palace in Mantua contain information relating to payments made to ‘M. Gio Fiamingo’. The unidentified author of a sonnet written in Rome around 1575 praises a now-lost portrait of Vittoria Velli Cavalieri (c. 1546–1615) by Bahuet and compares his art to that of Jacopino del Conte.

We are grateful to Marta Privitera, who has suggested an alternative attribution of the present painting to Lorenzo dello Sciorino.

Provenance:
Sir Percy Malcolm Stewart, 1st Baronet (1872–1951), The Lodge, Sandy, Bedfordshire;
Sir Ronald Stewart, 2nd Baronet (1903–1999);
by descent to the present owner

The present painting was part of an outstanding