Bernardo Strozzi, 'A Personification of Fame', probably 1635-6
About the work
Overview
A young woman, dressed in a dazzling yellow skirt and red bodice, semi-reclines in a dark landscape setting, of which only some rocks and plants in the foreground are visible. Her wings and the trumpets she holds identify her as the allegorical figure of Fame. Normally Fame is shown with a single trumpet or two trumpets of different lengths, intended to symbolise good and bad fame, but here she holds a golden trumpet in one hand and a wooden instrument – a shawm (a forerunner of the oboe) – in the other.
The painting is a relatively late work by the Genoese painter Strozzi, who spent the last few years of his life in Venice. The bright colourful palette and virtuoso brushwork evident on the skirt and white shirt are typical of his technique.
No other paintings by Strozzi of this subject are known, and its elongated format suggests that it may have been intended as an overdoor.
Key facts
Details
- Full title
- A Personification of Fame
- Artist
- Bernardo Strozzi
- Artist dates
- 1581 - 1644
- Date made
- probably 1635-6
- Medium and support
- oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 106.7 × 151.7 cm
- Acquisition credit
- Bought, 1961
- Inventory number
- NG6321
- Location
- Room 32
- Collection
- Main Collection
- Frame
- 17th-century Sicilian Frame
Provenance
Additional information
This painting is included in a list of works with incomplete provenance from 1933–1945; for more information see Whereabouts of paintings 1933–1945.
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Michael Levey, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools’, London 1986; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
Exhibition history
-
2019Bernardo Strozzi. The conquest of colourPalazzo Nicolosio Lomellino11 October 2019 - 12 January 2020
Bibliography
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1913A. Luzio, La galleria dei Gonzaga venduta all'Inghilterra nel 1627-28: Documenti degli archivi di Mantova e Londra, Milan 1913
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1958G. de Tervarent, Attributs et symboles dans l'art profane, 1450-1600, Geneva 1958
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1962The National Gallery, The National Gallery: January 1960 - May 1962, London 1962
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1962L. Mortari, 'Aggiunte allo Strozzi', Paragone, 153, 1962
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1963National Gallery, Acquisitions 1953-62, National Gallery Catalogues, London 1963
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1966L. Mortari, Bernardo Strozzi, Rome 1966
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1971M. Levey, The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1971
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1971F. Vivian, Il console Smith mercante e collezionista, Vicenza 1971
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1981R. Pallucchini, La pittura veneziana del Seicento, 2 vols, Milan 1981
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1983M. Helston, Spanish and Later Italian Paintings, London 1983
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1986Levey, Michael, National Gallery Catalogues: The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italian Schools, London 1986
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1994M. Eidelberg, 'The Dispersal of the Last Duke of Mantua's Paintings', Gazette des beaux-arts, CXXXVI/123, 1994, pp. 207-94
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1995L. Mortari, Bernardo Strozzi, Rome 1995
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2001
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
About this record
If you know more about this painting or have spotted an error, please contact us. Please note that exhibition histories are listed from 2009 onwards. Bibliographies may not be complete; more comprehensive information is available in the National Gallery Library.