"the young woman, depicted in a head and shoulders portrait with long loose hair against a dark background and wearing an exquisite courtly gown (fig. 1, mario balassi, queen of armenia, florence, gallery of the statues and paintings of the uffizi), has long been the subject of intense critical analysis in recent decades, beginning in the 1920s when alinari published a photograph of the painting captioned as caterina de’ medici (1519-1589), the famous queen of france. Over the years and until the present day, academics who have studied the painting have suggested various alternative identities, without ever reaching a satisfying conclusion and with considerable differences in terms of time and place: a mantua princess, margherita gonzaga (1591-1632); another french queen, maria de’ medici (1575-1642); camilla martelli, second wife of cosimo i (1545-1590); and finally cosimo i’s daughter virginia de’ medici (1568-1615). It should be noted that the identification of the latter two women has a much more precise justification, namely the splendid golden chain that adorns the breast of the young woman and which records show belonged to both women". [1]
maike vogt-lüerssen maintains that it is a portrait of archduchess maria magdalena of austria-tyrol (1656-1669) [2] [3]. Object Type: painting. Genre: portrait. Date: turn of the 16/17th century. Dimensions: height: 68 cm (26.7 in) ; width: 64 cm (25.1 in). Medium: oil on panel. Collection: Uffizi Gallery. Mario Balassi - The Queen of Armenia - Uffizi
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