An old
tradition has it that this is Caterina Cornaro, and, in my judgment,
this is perfectly correct.[94] Fortunately, we possess several
well-authenticated likenesses of this celebrated daughter of the
Republic. She had been married to the King of Cyprus, and after his
death had relinquished her quasi-sovereign rights in favour of Venice.
She then returned home (in 1489) and retired to Asolo, near
Castelfranco, where she passed a quiet country life, enjoying the
society of the poets and artists of the day, and reputed for her
kindliness and geniality. Her likeness is to be seen in three
contemporary paintings:--
1. At Buda-Pesth, by Gentile Bellini, with inscription.
2. In the Venice Academy, also by Gentile Bellini, who introduces her
and her attendant ladies kneeling in the foreground, to the left, in his
well-known "Miracle of the True Cross," dated 1500.
3. In the Berlin Gallery, by Jacopo de' Barbari, where she appears
kneeling in a composition of the "Madonna and Child and Saints."
[Illustration: _From a print. Pourtales Collection, Berlin_
MARBLE BUST OF CATERINA CORNARO]
Finally we see Caterina Cornaro in a bust in the Pourtales Collection at
Berlin, here reproduced,[95] seen full face, as in the Crespi portrait.
I know not on what outside authority the identification rests in the
case of the bust, but it certainly appears to represent the same lady as
in the above-mentioned pictures, and is rightly accepted as such by
modern German critics.
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