Portrait of a Lady

Michele Tosini, called Michele di Ridolfo · c. 1555

Medium

Oil on panel

Original size

55.8 × 42.7 cm (22 × 16 3/4 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Mannerism

Portrait of a Lady radiates the quiet confidence of mid-sixteenth-century Florentine portraiture — a composed, beautifully dressed subject rendered with the kind of psychological stillness that distinguishes the finest work of the period. Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio trained under Ridolfo Ghirlandaio and absorbed strong influences from both Leonardo da Vinci and Fra Bartolommeo, which shaped his distinctive approach to light and flesh. He became one of Florence's most sought-after portrait painters, celebrated for his ability to capture the softness of skin against the weight of fine textiles — brocade, velvet, and jewel-adorned sleeves treated with the same tender attention as a face. In this panel, the warm, layered glazes give the sitter's complexion an almost luminous quality, while the dark ground throws her features forward with understated drama. Tosini ran a busy workshop in Florence and is documented as having painted numerous portraits of Florentine noblewomen during the 1550s, making the identity of this particular sitter a matter of ongoing scholarly interest. Our hand-painted oil reproduction is executed on premium canvas using traditional layering techniques, faithfully recreating the tonal depth, textural richness, and intimate presence that makes the original, now in the Art Institute of Chicago, so quietly arresting.