Italian school; 17th century.
"The Suicide of Portia".
Oil on canvas. Re-drawn.
Measurements: 73 x 59 cm.
In this work the author presents us a woman with a long bust who holds on her hand an instrument with which she picks up an ember. Due to this motif the lady can be identified as Portia, the wife of Marcus Junius Brutus who worked under the orders of Julius Caesar. However, this marriage was considered an affront to Caesar, as Brutus abandoned his first wife without explanation to marry Portia, daughter of a Cato. In 44 BC Brutus took part and died in the conspiracy against Caesar led by Cassius and involving his brother-in-law Cato. In despair, Portia committed suicide by swallowing the embers of the cooker, the only thing she could resort to because of the strict surveillance.
The protagonist is shown as a beautiful, elegant young woman, depicted with a long bust, her body slightly turned to avoid the rigidity of a strictly frontal composition. . On the other hand, the figure is strongly illuminated and thus acquires a three-dimensional quality. On a formal level it should also be noted that, although this is a work in which a pictorial influence typical of northern Italy can be seen in these aspects of lighting and also in the warm, palette-based colouring and the perfection of the drawing, as well as the regularity and balance of the figure's ideal face, all point to a sensibility close to a classical language.