Maria Salviati with Giulia de' Medici

The artwork

In the nineteenth century the little girl Maria Salviati holds by the hand was painted over, apparently so that the picture could be sold as the portrait of a woman alone, and she reappeared during the cleaning of 1937. It comes printed on handmade Amalfi paper, in a handmade frame.

• A woman dressed in mourning, with a pale veil on her head, holding a little girl by the hand.
• An intimate portrait that brings warmth to a study or a bookcase.
• A gift for anyone who loves family portraits and the stories of the Medici.

Maria Salviati, mother of the future Grand Duke Cosimo I, is still in mourning for her husband, Giovanni delle Bande Nere. Pontormo portrayed her around 1539, with very long fingers that the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, where the painting is kept, calls impossible.

According to the museum, the little girl is almost certainly Giulia, daughter of Duke Alessandro de' Medici, entrusted to Maria after her father's murder, and this may be the first official portrait of a child of African descent in European art.

In 1612 a Riccardi inventory already recorded it as the portrait “of Signora Donna Maria Medici with a little girl by the hand”; in 1897 it passed as a work by Sebastiano del Piombo.

In a living room it looks good on its own or next to the portrait of Giulia's father, which you will find in the shop. It makes a lovely gift for a godfather or a godmother.

Unique quality material

Print on handmade Amalfi paper
Sheet size: 29 x 42 cm (11.4 x 16.5 in)
Framed size: 31 x 44 cm (12.2 x 17.3 in)
Material: artwork printed on very fine handmade Amalfi paper with deckled edges
Frame: dark brown with a gold fillet, handmade, with glass