Female Figure With Tears Of Blood – Northern Italian School, Circa 1650–1680

Female Figure with Tears of Blood – Northern Italian School, circa 1650–1680

Dimensions with frame: 43 x 51 cm

Dimensions unframed: 29 x 35 cm

Baroque painting of remarkable intensity depicting a female figure in profile, with tears of blood. The work reveals an artist fully acquainted with mid-17th century painting, showing a refined handling of light and colour and suggesting a mediated awareness of the Rubensian tradition, interpreted through a measured and cultivated Italian pictorial language.

The rendering of the flesh tones is particularly masterful: the face is built through subtle tonal transitions and delicate glazing, with careful attention to the warm blushes and shadows. The painter demonstrates confident brushwork, alternating very thin, blended passages with more textured and paste-like areas, creating a lively surface that defines with precision the relief of the cheeks, the contour of the eyelids, and the softness of the modelling.

The painting is executed on canvas laid down on cardboard, which bears an old inventory number. At an earlier stage, a wooden panel was added to the reverse as protection, and the same number was transcribed onto the wood support. Due to its format and conception, the work may be interpreted as a sketch or a fragment, possibly once belonging to a larger composition now lost.

The painting requires restoration: a few old oxidised retouches are visible, along with a darkened protective varnish that could be reduced through cleaning. It has been intentionally preserved in its current state for the moment, as it retains an appealing aged patina that may also be appreciated without immediate intervention.

Fine French frame from the early 19th century (circa 1820), in wood and pastiglia, decorated with an elegant palmette motif. The quality of the frame and its gilding suggests an early presence in a French collection: frames of this type are frequently found in museum contexts, often applied later to older paintings, following a common practice in the early decades of the 19th century when many works were reframed during donations or reorganisations of collections. The frame shows normal wear and a small loss at the lower section.