(Milano 1616–1681 Bologna)
Portrait of a noblewoman, standing full-length, by a table holding a plumed hat and a riding whip,
oil on canvas, 193 x 113 cm, framed

Provenance:
Private European collection

We are grateful to Filippo Maria Ferro for suggesting the attribution on the basis of a photograph.

Pier Francesco Cittadini first studied under Daniele Crespi in Milan, his native city from which he derived his moniker. At the age of seventeen he entered the Bolognese workshop of Guido Reni. His few surviving commissions from this period inevitably demonstrate the influence of Reni. Among them is the Conversion of Saint Paul of circa 1641. In the mid-1640s Cittadini made a journey to Rome, which transformed both the subject-matter of his art and his technique. Paintings of Lot and his Daughters and Hagar and the Angel both in Gemäldegalerie di Alte Meister, Dresden date from around this time and suggest that he was strongly influenced by the Venetian tendencies in the art of Pietro Testa and Pier Francesco Mola.

Cittadini’s portraits, such as the present work, united realism with classicism, and won him considerable success in Bologna. His works include a Gentlewoman with her Son conserved in the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna which is distinguished by a warm and direct naturalism and in general his artistic production is characterised by his experience of Lombard realism.