Violante

History

The work was part of the Venetian collection of Bartolomeo della Nave and in 1636, it was sold to the Duke of Hamilton, who brought it to London. In 1659, it was acquired by Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, whose collection later became part of the current museum. The painting was popular when it was in the Archduke's cabinet, as it was portrayed in several of his gallery paintings from the 1650s and was even included twice in the gallery highlights series of etchings known as Theatrum Pictorium, or Theater of paintings; once as an illustration (plate 194) by Lucas Vorsterman II with caption and reproduced again by Teniers himself for the frontispiece.

The title refers to the traditional identification with Violante, the daughter of painter Palma the Elder, though this has been disputed as the other beautiful women of the same painting series with different features have also been called Violante. The 1655-1660 illustrations for David Teniers the Younger's Theatrum pictorium lacked titles but included captions (later editions also included plate numbers and this one is plate 194). The captions show the attribution, the size in palm height and width, the engraver, and occasionally another collaborator for the engraving. The one has the caption "I. Palma Senior pinxit, 4 Alta 3 Lata, L. Vorsterman f."

The old attribution was later questioned and the work was attributed to Titian by Italian art historian Roberto Longhi. The woman portrayed is very similar to that in the Balbi Holy Conversation and a series of portraits of wavy-haired blonde women such as the Woman with a Mirror, Flora, the Vanity, Salome and the Young Woman in a Black Dress.