Portrait of a lady
Currently on display, Gallery 9
- Place made
- Britain
- Medium
- oil on wood panel
- Dimensions
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78.1 x 64.7 cm
94.7 x 82.0 x 5.8 cm (Frame) - Credit line
- South Australian Government Grant 1984
- Accession number
- 849P32
- Signature and date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Provenance
- Ivor & Joan Weiss Gallery, Essex, England by 1984
- Media category
- Painting
- Collection area
- British paintings
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WALL LABEL: Portrait of a lady, c.1590
Gower’s portrait of an unknown woman demonstrates the ways in which the break from the papacy dramatically transformed British art in the Tudor and Elizabethan eras. While the Reformation led to the destruction of depictions of God, Jesus and the Madonna, they were replaced with icon-like portraits of royalty and the aristocracy, replete with the symbols of power and influence reminiscent of their religious predecessors.
Over the centuries the thin layers of paint of this portrait have become translucent and it is possible to see pentimenti – traces of the artist’s earlier iteration of the work – especially in the location of her proper right hand.
Tansy Curtin, Curator of International Art Pre-1980
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Reimagining the Renaissance
Art Gallery of South Australia, 20 July 2024 – 13 April 2025
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[Journal] Apollo.
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[Book] Radford, Ron. Island to Empire 300 years of British Art 1550-1850.
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[Book] James Bennett & Russell Kelty. Treasure ships: art in the age of spices.
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[Book] Maynard, Margaret. Fashioned in time: Rethinking global dress history.
Complimentary copy to come.