Portrait of a Lady, three-quarter length in a blue dress holding a fan and a book
oil on canvas, 92 x 120 cm, framed

The present painting has been considered an early work by Giacomo Ceruti, called il Pitocchettto (1698–1767), and has been compared to his works dated between the 1720s and 1730s when sitters were often represented three-quarter length in semi-profile holding a fan. Ceruti was one of a group of artists working in Bergamo and Brescia who observed reality with an unusual freshness and directness. He painted religious subjects and portraits similar to the present work (see M. Gregori, Giacomo Ceruti, Milan 1982) but he was mostly celebrated as a painter of genre and low-life scenes. These included many pictures of beggars and vagabonds (pitocchi) from which his name ‘il Pitocchetto’ derived.

Ceruti’s early portraits and genre scenes were naturalistic, as can be seen in a 1724 portrait of Giovanni Maria Fenaroli (see Gregori, 1982, no. 9). Other portraits of local nobility, such as the Gentlewoman of the Lechi Family (see op. cit., Gregori, 1982, no. 8), may be dated to the same period. Between 1726 and 1728 Ceruti received his first large-scale public commission, from Andrea Memmo (1670–1754), Governor of Brescia, for 17 pictures of celebrated Brescians to decorate the state rooms of the Palazzo di Broletto, Brescia. Ceruti was a successful portraitist and worked for Venetian and Lambard nobility, as well as enjoying the patronage of Field Marshal Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg, the German military commander, patron and collector.

The artist drew on a complex artistic tradition and was influenced by such northern European painters as Bernhardt Keil and Pieter Snayers, by the Italian artists Pietro Bellotti (1627–1700), Antonio Cifrondi (1657–1730) and Giulio Todeschini, and by Jacques Callot’s prints.

The costume of the sitter suggests that the present painting may be dated to the 1720s.

The present painting has been considered an early work by Giacomo Ceruti, called il Pitocchettto (1698–1767) and has been compared to his works dated between the 1720s and 1730s when sitters were often represented three-quarter length in semi-profile holding a fan. Ceruti was one of a group of artists working in Bergamo and Brescia who observed reality with an unusual freshness and directness. He painted religious subjects and portraits similar to the present work (see M. Gregori, Giacomo Ceruti, Milan 1982) but he was mostly celebrated as a painter of genre and low-life scenes. These included many pictures of beggars and vagabonds (pitocchi) from which his name ‘il Pitocchetto’ derived.

Ceruti’s early portraits and genre scenes were naturalistic, as can be seen in a 1724 portrait of Giovanni Maria Fenaroli (see Gregori, 1982, no. 9). Other portraits of local nobility, such as the Gentlewoman of the Lechi Family (see op. cit., Gregori, 1982, no. 8), may be dated to the same period. Between 1726 and 1728 Ceruti received his first large-scale public commission, from Andrea Memmo (1670–1754), Governor of Brescia, for 17 pictures of celebrated Brescians to decorate the state rooms of the Palazzo di Broletto, Brescia. Ceruti was a successful portraitist and worked for Venetian and Lambard nobility, as well as enjoying the patronage of Field Marshal Count Johann Matthias von der Schulenburg, the German military commander, patron and collector.

The artist drew on a complex artistic tradition and was influenced by such northern European painters as Bernhardt Keil and Pieter Snayers, by the Italian artists Pietro Bellotti (1627–1700), Antonio Cifrondi (1657–1730) and Giulio Todeschini, and by Jacques Callot’s prints.

The costume of the sitter suggests that the present painting may be dated to the 1720s.