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Isabella in Black (also called Portrait of Isabella d'Este) is a portrait of a young woman by Titian. It can be dated to the 1530s and is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. The artist and the date are undisputed. Beyond the museum documentaton, there are repeated doubts about the person depicted.

Isabella in Black
Artist	Titian
Year	1530s
Type	Oil on Canvas
Subject	assumed as Isabella d'Este (uncertain identification)
Dimensions	102 cm × 64 cm (40 in × 25 in)
Location	Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Accession	GG 83

Description

Depicted is a young woman as a half figure in a chair with an armrest[1] against a dark background. She stares slightly to the left. Personal features are light blond curls, the (rare) eye colour light grey, flat eyebrows and a snub nose — overall not representing the ideal of beauty. On her head she wears a balzo (a fashion invention of Isabella d'Este (prototypes before 1509[2]), but widely popular in northern Italy in the 1530s). Her clothes are dark, the sleeves green with patterns, a gold decorated shirt and a fur (probably lynx). The canvas is reputed to be trimmed on the left and right.

History

The painting passed from the Gonzaga collection in Mantua to the collection of Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, where it is listed as Catherine Cornaro ("Queen of Cyprus") in the inventory in 1659.[3]
An engraving of a copy of the painting shows an inscription "E Titiani prototypo P. P. Rubens exc. Isabella Estensis Francisisci Gonzagae March. Matovae uxor".[4] However, this inscription is three to four generations later and thus uncertain (cf. the mistaken baroque naming "Queen of Cyprus").
On the basis of this later inscription, Giovanni Battista Cavalcaselle assigned the painting to a commission from the 60-year-old Isabella d'Este, which has been recorded in letters: Titian was to paint her portrait in 1534 on the basis of a portrait (now considered lost) by Francesco Francia in 1511.[5] Isabella commented on the portrait, completed in 1536, with "The portrait by Titian's hand is of such a pleasing type that we doubt that we were ever, at the age he represents, of such beauty that is contained in it."[6] The lost Francia original had already been painted 25 years earlier in absentia on the basis of oral descriptions and a third-party drawing. And the drawing is assumed to be a more than ten year older one by Leonardo da Vinci (1499/1500).[7] Isabella obviously wanted to be kept youthful and as an (ex-)beauty. Titian's other portrait of the aged Isabella d'Este (Isabella in Red, today only preserved by a Rubens copy in the same museum), had probably not pleased her, which is why this second commission is assumed.
In the 1930s, Wilhelm Suida and Leandro Ozzola opposed this naming as an idealisation of Isabella d'Este. Therefore, only artist and dating were documented as accepted by experts.[8] In the catalogue of the Isabella d'Este exhibition in Vienna (1994), the painting was still marketed as "by the hand of Titian, the 'greatest portrait painter of all time', as the portrait that clearly represents her".[9] The academic exhibition review again opposed: "but why, when engaged on so professional a face-lift, did Titian use so coarse a canvas?"[10]

Identity of the sitter

The identification of Isabella in black is uncertain. Nevertheless, the picture is uncritically circulated as the most famous portrait of Isabella d'Este, e.g. in books, probably because it is a Titian original (and the rest of the colour identifications are only copies).
Isabella d'Este was so famous as 'Prima donna del Mondo' and fashion icon that nobles asked to be allowed to copy her dressing.[11] After her death, depictions with balzo were uncritically identified (or marketed) as Isabella.[12] By the end of the last century, all colour identifications were withdrawn due to resulting contradictions.[13] Exceptions are the three portraits in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, which remain contradictory (see graphic at right): Ambras miniature [14] (anonymous 16th century), Isabella in Red (copy by Rubens c. 1606 after a lost original by Titian c. 1524-30), and Isabella in Black (Titian 1536).[15]
Points of discussion in the identification in Isabella in Black are the lack of similarities and the lack of beauty idealisation. At the same time, Isabella's successor Margherita Paleologa shows matching personal characteristics to Isabella in Black (incl. the stiff facial expression). And in 1531 her commission to Titian is also documented.[16]
Leandro Ozzola alternatively published La Bella (in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence) as Titian's portrait resp. idealisation after Francesco Francia.[17]

See also

• Portraits of Isabella d'Este

Literature

References

Weblinks

• Bilddatenbank Kunsthistorisches Museum

На других языках

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[de] Isabella in Schwarz

Isabella in Schwarz (auch Schwarze Isabella oder Portrait Isabella d’Este genannt) ist ein Frauenportrait von Tizian. Es ist datierbar in die 1530er Jahre und befindet sich im Kunsthistorischen Museum in Wien. Künstler und Datierung sind unbestritten, über die dargestellte Person gibt es (außerhalb der Museumsdokumentation) wiederholt Zweifel.

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- [en] Portrait of Isabella d'Este (Titian)

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[es] Retrato de Isabel de Este (Tiziano)

Retrato de Isabel de Este (o Isabel de negro) es un óleo sobre lienzo del pintor italiano Tiziano, completado entre 1534 y 1536. Supuestamente muestra a la marquesa de Mantua, Isabel de Este, hija de Hércules I de Este, duque de Ferrara, y de Leonor de Nápoles. Debido al original de Tiziano, la representación es ampliamente conocida, pero la identificación como Isabel de Este es incierta. Véase, por ejemplo, el catálogo razonado de Tiziano.[1]

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[fr] Portrait d'Isabelle d'Este (Titien)

Isabelle en noir ou le Portrait d'Isabelle d'Este (Titien) est une peinture à l'huile sur toile (102 × 64 cm) par Titien, datant de 1530-1539 et conservée au Kunsthistorisches Museum de Vienne. L'artiste et la datation sont considérés comme sûrs, mais il existe des doutes répétés (en dehors de la documentation du musée) sur la personne représentée.

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[it] Ritratto di Isabella d'Este (Tiziano)

Il Ritratto di Isabella d'Este (o Isabella in Nero) è un dipinto a olio su tela (102 cm x 64 cm) di Tiziano, databile al 1530-1539 e conservato nel Kunsthistorisches Museum di Vienna. L'identificazione con Isabella d'Este è tradizionale, ma non inequivocabilmente assodata.

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[ru] Портрет Изабеллы д’Эсте (картина Тициана)

«Портрет Изабеллы д'Эсте» (итал. Ritratto di Isabella d'Este) — картина итальянского живописца Тициана (1490-1576), представителя венецианской школы. Создана примерно в 1534–1536 годах. Хранится в коллекции Музея истории искусств в Вене.

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