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Portrait of a Young Woman

Creator

Italian Artist · 1480–1528

Little documentation exists for Andrea Previtali's life. He was first recorded in 1502 when he signed and dated a *Virgin and Child with Donor* , describing himself as a "disciple" of Giovanni Bellini, whose workshop he probably had joined between 1490 and 1500. In 1512 Previtali was in Bergamo, perhaps called there by a noble family who gave him numerous commissions including altarpieces and port

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Date: about 1520–1525
Medium: Black chalk, heightened with white chalk
Culture: Italian
Department: Drawings
Institution: Getty Museum

A young woman turns her head to look over her left shoulder, staring out with dark, almond shaped eyes. She wears a high-necked dress with an embroidered collar that opens at her throat, revealing a narrow necklace or clasp. A *schuffa,* or headdress made of braided hair held in place by a brooch in the center, decorates her head. Although her identity is unknown, the format of the portrait and her clothing indicate the sitter was from northern Italy. The artist sketched her in chalk in the early 1500s in preparation for a formal painting. Scholars are uncertain about the meaning of the chalk lines in the bottom left corner. They may signal an abandoned attempt at drawing one of the sitter's hands or the upper sleeve of her drapery.

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