Domenico BECCAFUMI - Tanaquilla, wife of Lucumone (about 1520)

 

Tanaquilla, wife of Lucumone
about 1520
Oil painting on canvas (92x53 cm)
National Gallery, London

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The style of the hairstyle and the workmanship of the dress inexorably distance the character of the portrait with Roman antiquity.
The woman portrayed shows a wooden table where we can read her name: Tanaquilla; Lucumone's wife, who convinced her husband to move to Rome where he became king as Tarquinio Priscus from 616 to 578 BC. In the Renaissance, the figure of Tanaquilla had been greatly revalued, becoming a symbol of fortitude and perseverance.
The soft colors of this work, the elongated shapes, the elegant and sensitive style are among the typical characteristics of mannerism.
Beccafumi became famous for his frescoes and paintings in the churches of Siena where he used to blend the most classic formal ideas with the typical color effects of Sienese painting.
His name is linked to Siena above all for the marvelous designs of the marble floor of the Siena Cathedral, decorated with subjects from the Old Testament.

Comparing artists: Cranach, Goya, Parmigianino, Rosso Fiorentino

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