Portrait of a Woman
by UCCELLO, Paolo, Tempera on wood, 41 x 31 cm
The identity of the painter of this enigmatic portrait is debated. It was attributed to Filippo Lippi, to his pupil Fra Diamante, to Giovanni di Francesco, to Fra Carnevale, to a follower of Paolo Uccello, and to Uccello himself.
The painter of this portrait took as his point of departure Filippo Lippi’s Portrait of a Man and a Woman, but he was deeply sympathetic to Uccello’s fascination with geometry and he was influenced by Uccello’s peculiar interest in uningratiating, homely female types of distinctly middle-class status.