CF STUDIES JOURNAL 09 - Flipbook - Page 49
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A “rediscovered” portrait of Vittoria Farnese, Duchess of Urbino, by Taddeo Zuccaro
Fig. 4 / Titian, Portrait of Giulia
Varano, ca. 1547, oil on panel,
113.5 x 88 cm, Florence,
Palazzo Pitti.
Moreover, if one interprets the portrait cameo held
by Vittoria as an indication that her spouse was
absent at the time of the painting’s execution, it is
difficult to reconcile the work with a date in the
1560s. By the 1560s, Guidobaldo no longer lived the
peripatetic lifestyle that he had when in the employ
A “rediscovered” portrait of Vittoria Farnese, Duchess of Urbino, by Taddeo Zuccaro
of the Venetian Republic or papacy. His position as
Captain General of land forces in the Regno di Napoli
did not require extensive travel. Instead, a date in
the 1550s would be much more consistent with the
painting’s iconography, not to mention style. Until
1552, Guidobaldo II was regulartly in the territory
Fig. 5 / Giacomo Vighi
(l’Argenta), Portrait of Vittoria
Farnese, 1566, oil on canvas,
120 x 94.5 cm, European
Private Collection.
of the Venetian Republic. From 1553 till 1555 he
was Captain General of the papacy, during a tense
period of the war over Siena (1555-1556) and the
escalation of Paul IV’s war against Spain (15561557). If executed at this time, the imagery would be
entirely appropriate.
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The Vighi portrait, whose details are more literal and
therefore clearer, assists with a full iconographic analysis
of the earlier portrait. Vittoria wears a rich damask
dress, difficult to see in the New York portrait, and
holds a standard rosary. Interestingly, it is painted quite
freely in the New York portrait, but in Vighi’s version
