(San Giovanni Bianco 1609–1679 Bergamo) Portrait of a young lady, oil on canvas, 69 x 56 cm, framed

Certificate: Prof. Ugo Ruggeri, Venice (July 2009). We are grateful to Dr. Camillo Manzitti, who has also identified and confirmed the present portrait as a work by Carlo Ceresa. Besides Daniele Crespi and Guido Reni, Ceresa, who also worked in other genres, was probably the most important portraitist of his time in Bergamo and one of the most significant portraitists in Northern Italy. The present painting accounts for Ceresa’s reputation: the sitter is presented to the spectator in direct frontality, with a pronounced immediacy being created through the meticulously rendered characteristics of her physiognomy. This impression is further enhanced by the monochrome, neutral background – a device reminiscent of Flemish models whose rigidity also suggests Spanish influences. Ceresa supplied the Viennese court and patrician families in Venice with his portraits. Although he also treated religious and historical subjects that are considered to lead from Giovanni Battista Moroni’s art to that of Fra Galgario, he became famous for his impressive portrayals of the aristocracy in Bergamo and Veneto.