Portrait of a Lady

Alesso Baldovinetti's Portrait of a Lady, painted around 1465 and now in the National Gallery, London, is one of the finest Florentine female profile portraits of the fifteenth century. The strict profile format, derived from ancient Roman coins and medals, was the standard mode for depicting women in early Renaissance Florence, emphasizing beauty, lineage, and social status rather than individual psychological character.

Baldovinetti's crisp, precise drawing and luminous coloring give the portrait a jewel-like quality, with the sitter's profile silhouetted against a pale blue sky and her elaborate hairstyle and costume rendered with delicate precision.