Saint Lucy and a Donor

Italienische Malerei 1535–1583, c. 1585/1595

A woman with a delicate, translucent halo stands on a stone ledge above an older man who is shown in a smaller scale in the lower right of this vertical, arched painting. Both have pale skin. The woman faces us with her right hand, on our left, pressed to her chest. Her head is turned to look up and to the left with wide, gray eyes under thin brows. Her left knee, on our right, is slightly bent, making her torso lean in that direction. She has a round face with a long nose and a small coral-red mouth, which is open. Her brown hair is covered by a sable-brown veil, and she wears a sleeveless olive-green tunic over a long-sleeved dusty rose-pink gown. The tunic is adorned with a gold, winged baby head at the neckline. A copper-red cloak covered with a delicate cherry-red pattern is fastened to the shoulders of her tunic with gold ornaments embedded with dark red gems. The cloak wraps around her right side, on our left, and her right hand holds a fold of the cloak to her chest. The left side of the cloak wraps around that hip and is attached with a round, gold object with a tassel hanging from the bottom. She carries a dark green palm frond in her left hand, along with a short staff topped with a human eye. She stands in a gap between terracotta-colored balustrades with brown hills and a cloud-filled, teal-blue sky beyond her. The man in the lower right stands facing our left, almost in profile as if in front of the ledge on which the woman stands. He has a ruddy, deeply lined face, short gray hair and a trimmed beard, and wears a voluminous black coat with a white collar. The fingertips of his raised hands touch and a gold ring with a burnt-orange gem is on the first finger of his near hand.
Artist
Italienische Malerei 1535–1583
Date
c. 1585/1595
Type
Painting
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
180.6 × 115.3 cm
Collection
National Gallery of Art, Washington
Licence
Public domain, CC0

Image description

A woman with a delicate, translucent halo stands on a stone ledge above an older man who is shown in a smaller scale in the lower right of this vertical, arched painting. Both have pale skin. The woman faces us with her right hand, on our left, pressed to her chest. Her head is turned to look up and to the left with wide, gray eyes under thin brows. Her left knee, on our right, is slightly bent, making her torso lean in that direction. She has a round face with a long nose and a small coral-red mouth, which is open. Her brown hair is covered by a sable-brown veil, and she wears a sleeveless olive-green tunic over a long-sleeved dusty rose-pink gown. The tunic is adorned with a gold, winged baby head at the neckline. A copper-red cloak covered with a delicate cherry-red pattern is fastened to the shoulders of her tunic with gold ornaments embedded with dark red gems. The cloak wraps around her right side, on our left, and her right hand holds a fold of the cloak to her chest. The left side of the cloak wraps around that hip and is attached with a round, gold object with a tassel hanging from the bottom. She carries a dark green palm frond in her left hand, along with a short staff topped with a human eye. She stands in a gap between terracotta-colored balustrades with brown hills and a cloud-filled, teal-blue sky beyond her. The man in the lower right stands facing our left, almost in profile as if in front of the ledge on which the woman stands. He has a ruddy, deeply lined face, short gray hair and a trimmed beard, and wears a voluminous black coat with a white collar. The fingertips of his raised hands touch and a gold ring with a burnt-orange gem is on the first finger of his near hand.

Italienische Malerei 1535–1583