Portrait of a Woman with a Book of Music, Bachiacca
Francesco d'Ubertino Verdi, called Bachiacca. He is also known as Francesco Ubertini, il Bacchiacca (1494–1557). He was an Italian painter of the Renaissance whose work is characteristic of the Florentine Mannerist style.
This unidentified woman wears an elegant, colorful dress that was the height of Florentine fashion around 1540. Her costume and music book indicate that she came from a cultured, patrician background; she may have been a member of the Frescobaldi, a powerful Florentine banking family that once owned this painting.
Bacchiacca's portrait beautifully exemplifies the Florentine Mannerist style and shows off his ability to represent intricate textile designs, such as the tablecloth's border. Bacchiacca derived his ambiguous space, juxtaposition of dissonant colors, and polished, sculptural treatment of flesh from Agnolo Bronzino's contemporary portrayals of the Medici court.
