A celebrity of sorts has returned to the U.S. after a twenty year absence.
The Italian Renaissance painting Antea by Parmigianino (1503-1540) will be on short loan to the Frick Collection in New York City until April 27, 2008 after which time it will be returned to its home at the Museo di Capodimonte in Naples.
The Frick’s description of the painting is that Antea is depicted as “standing, looking out at the viewer with surprising frankness...As she meets our gaze, her pose and gestures create a dynamic of desire between herself and the viewer, who stands in for her lover.”
Fair enough, but Antea is also a grand mystery. I remember coming across Antea years ago in an art catalog and being fascinated by its story and all the surrounding speculation.
We don’t know the identity of the woman in the painting, her social status, or even why the work was commissioned. We can suspect she was of high status, but we can't be certain. (Courtesans of the time were adept at mimicking the appearance of high ranking women and crossing the class system.) We do know her name was not Antea. The name Antea was first used about 100 years after the portrait was painted and is a reference to a famous courtesan of Parmigianino’s time. Even the date of the work is not firmly established and is estimated to have been painted circa 1531 to 1534 which would have made Parmigianino about 30 years old at the time. (Could she have been Parmigianino's lover?)
Aside from the frank and direct gaze, the painting is strong on symbols. As the Frick's description mentions, the jewels and fur worn by Antea could be the wedding gifts of a new bride, or the gifts of a lover given in hopes of erotic attainment. By wearing them and interacting with the gifts (her hand points to her heart while fingering the chain) is she is accepting a lover’s offer? Or is she merely illustriously accepting her new role as a wife?
And while the depiction is suggestive of sexual tension, it has been argued that she lacks the brazen expression, disheveled hair and other clues used by Renaissance painters to portray courtesans and lovers. Instead we see dignity and pride of place.
In the end, each viewer is free to make his own conclusions.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to travel to New York before the painting is returned to Naples. But I post it here in case an interested reader has the opportunity visit The Frick Collection before then.
Visit the Frick Collection Site for more information- http://www.frick.org/
John P.
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