Portrait of a Woman
c. 1490–95
Medium
oil on wood
Dimensions
unframed: 30.3 × 21.3 cm · framed: 44 × 34.5 × 5.5 cm
Classification
Painting
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Bequest of Jane Taft Ingalls
Accession Number
1962.259
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
About this artwork
This portrait represents a woman in her later middle years holding a rosary made of coral with gold medals. Her identity remains unknown, but the richness and elegance of her black woolen gown with fur-trimmed cuffs and her coif of white sheer linen attest to her comfortable social standing. The prominence of her rosary is perhaps meant to suggest her personal devotion. The panel has been attributed to the anonymous Master of the Holy Kinship the Younger, a painter in Cologne (Germany) with a fl...
About the Artist
Master of the Holy Kinship (German)
**German, Franconia (active ca. 1485–1500)** was an anonymous artist from the Franconian region of northern Bavaria, Germany, renowned for his contributions to late Gothic graphic arts. Little is known of his early life or training, as details about many anonymous masters from this era remain undocumented. Franconia, with its vibrant artistic centers like Nuremberg, fostered a rich tradition of re...