Bust of a Woman

myminifactory

This cast is derived from one of nine female portrait busts attributed to the Italian Renaissance sculptor Francesco Laurana based on their resemblance to a series of documented groups of the Virgin and Child by the artist. Two of those nine busts - located in the Frick Collection, New York, and the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. - bear close resemblance to this portrait, possibly depicting the same person. They share similar bases adorned with classicizing figures. Extensive remains of pigmentation survive on the marble, accompanied by faint incised decoration of the dress, forming a richly gilded pattern. A cavity on the breast may have been originally covered by a metal brooch or pendant, and the cartouche might have once been inscribed with the sitter's name. The sitter has been tentatively identified as Ippolita Maria Sforza, wife of King Alfonso II of Naples, although this identification is hypothetical. During a fire at the end of World War II, the marble portrait head in Berlin was separated from the rest of the bust, including its decorative base. The shoulders and integral base are now located in Moscow, while the head resides in the Bode Museum, Berlin. This plaster cast was created in the 1880s before this extensive damage to the marble original. Plaster casts were highly sought after during the 19th century, when reproductions of great works of sculpture and architecture were deemed essential for the training of artists. A separating substance was applied to the surface of the work to be reproduced, and a plaster mould made from that. The mould would then be used to create additional plaster copies. These were often sold to artists, and later in the century to art colleges for study purposes.