Portrait of a lady

George Gower
Britain
c.1540 – 1596

Portrait of a lady
c.1590
oil on wood panel
Place made
Britain
Medium
oil on wood panel
Dimensions
78.1 x 64.7 cm
94.7 x 82.0 x 5.8 cm (Frame)
Credit line
South Australian Government Grant 1984
Accession number
849P32
Signature and date
Not signed. Not dated.
Provenance
Ivor & Joan Weiss Gallery, Essex, England by 1984
Media category
Painting
Collection area
British paintings

  • WALL LABEL: Portrait of a lady, c.1590

     

    Gower’s portrait of an unknown woman demonstrates the ways in which the break from the papacy dramatically transformed British art in the Tudor and Elizabethan eras. While the Reformation led to the destruction of depictions of God, Jesus and the Madonna, they were replaced with icon-like portraits of royalty and the aristocracy, replete with the symbols of power and influence reminiscent of their religious predecessors.

     

    Over the centuries the thin layers of paint of this portrait have become translucent and it is possible to see pentimenti – traces of the artist’s earlier iteration of the work – especially in the location of her proper right hand.

     

    Tansy Curtin, Curator of International Art Pre-1980

  • Reimagining the Renaissance

    Art Gallery of South Australia, 20 July 2024 – 13 April 2025
  • [Journal] Apollo.
  • [Book] Radford, Ron. Island to Empire 300 years of British Art 1550-1850.
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  • [Book] Maynard, Margaret. Fashioned in time: Rethinking global dress history.
    Complimentary copy to come.