285. Francesco Laurana (1430-1502), Italian,

Bust of a Lady, Isabella di Aragona,

Princess of Naples, c. 1475-1488.

Coloured marble, height: 44 cm.

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

 

 

Laurana’s portraits of women have a highly idealised, classicising appearance. Drawing on the tradition of the Etruscan and Roman portrait busts of antiquity, as well as the revival of the art form in the late Middle Ages, Laurana imbues his work with an ethereal quality that instils the subject with some of the saintliness of the Virgin. The heavily-lidded eyes suggest a transformed psychological state of trance or ecstasy. Traditionally, the sculpted bust is made to commemorate the dead, and some of Laurana’s work was certainly done in that convention. Portrait busts were also commissioned for the living, however, as was this example. Here, Laurana has depicted the princess with a slight aristocratic hauteur. He shows particular accomplishment in the realism of the details of the neckline of Isabella’s gown.