Portrait of a lady in an antiquising costume, oil on canvas, 63.9 x 51 cm, framed

We are grateful to Prof Francesco Petrucci, Rome, who was able to authenticate this painting as a work by Ludovico Stern on the basis of a professional photograph (the certificate from Prof Petrucci is available). We would also like to thank Prof Giancarlo Sestieri, Rome, who independently identified the painting as the work of Stern (a certificate accompanies the picture).

When one considers the high quality of the portraits confirmed to be by Ludovico Stern, a Roman artist originating from Bavaria, and the great number of them which were mentioned in contemporary inventories, it is amazing that so few of them have been located to date so. This painting was attributed previously to the Tischbein family, to Anton Raphael Mengs or Johann Baptist Lampi the Elder. It has also been attributed to the circle around Pompeo Batoni. The artistic milieu in Rome in the 18th century was marked by great numbers of foreign artists, academy scholars and those undertaking the Grand Tour. Ludovico Stern belonged to this group, his oeuvre being influenced by the work of Antonio David, Francesco Trevisani and Louis Gabriel Blanchet. The influence of Batoni is also evident, although the artist, as Petrucci has been able to demonstrate, was never active in his workshop. The sitter was presumably a lady undertaking the Grand Tour.

This painting is an important rediscovery in Stern’s oeuvre. The iconography of the picture is interesting in that the sitter chose to be portrayed either in an antique Roman costume or as an allegorical figure. Ludovico Stern was born the son of the Bavarian painter, Ignaz Stern, and trained in his workshop. He later moved to Parma and then Rome. In 1741 he was accepted into the the congregazione of the Virtuosi al Pantheon, being appointed regent in 1755/56.