Profile Portrait of a Young Lady

Attribution to Pollaiuolo is largely accepted by recent scholarship. A minority think of Piero della Francesca, and the most recent monograph assigns it to anonymity, along with some related portraits. The attribution is based on the observation of stylistic features that are also achievements in terms of comparable pieces. This is one of the finest portraits of the early Florentine Renaissance in the purity of its line and subtle execution, in the nobility of the pose and the self-confident dignity of the woman’s expression.