One of art’s
great mysteries is on the way to being solved following the initial finding of
a four-year research project focusing on one of Glasgow Museums’ most famous
paintings. Lady in a Fur Wrap is renowned as one of the finest portraits to be
produced in Europe during the late 16th century, but remains
unsigned. Up until now the painting of a young woman gazing at the viewer while
wrapped in a fur robe, which has hung in Pollok House in Glasgow since 1967,
has been attributed to Spanish Renaissance master, El Greco (1514-1561). After
more than 100 years of debate, however, historians and scientists have applied
state-of-art techniques to declare the painting to be the work of another
Spanish artist, Alonso Sánchez Coello (1531-1588).
This conclusion is
the result of extensive scientific detective work carried out by experts at the
Museo del Prado, Madrid, and later at the University of Glasgow in partnership
with Glasgow Museums. Investigations began while the painting was on loan to the Prado in
Madrid in 2014 to mark the fourth centenary of El Greco’s death, with
tests also carried out on works by El Greco and others, including Sánchez
Coello. An extensive research project in Glasgow looked forensically at
technique, style and social mores of the painting’s era, including dress.
Lady in a Fur
Wrap has a colourful history. The painting was bequeathed to the city of
Glasgow in 1967 by Dame Anne Maxwell Macdonald, grand-daughter of
its owner, Sir William Maxwell, who purchased it in 1853 after it previously
hung in the Louvre as part of the Spanish collection of King Louis Philippe of
France. As El Greco’s international reputation was cemented on the back of Lady
in a Fur Wrap, more sceptical scholars have always questioned the veracity of
his involvement in its creation. Other suspects in the frame included Italian
Renaissance painter Sofonisba Anguissola (1532-1625), though all evidence eventually
pointed to Sánchez Coello.
As Dr Hilary Macartney, who led the research at the University of
Glasgow, points out, “In his time, Sánchez Coello was better known and more admired than
El Greco. The misattribution of the Lady was
instrumental in establishing El Greco’s reputation outside Spain in the 19th century.
More recently, the portrait’s popular association with Sofonisba Anguissola
helped revive interest in her work. Now, at last, it will re-establish the
international reputation that Alonso Sánchez Coello deserves.”
Despite this, with
preparations underway to return Lady in a Fur Wrap to Pollok House in 2020, the
painting retains an air of intrigue worthy of historical fiction. As Duncan
Dornan, head of Glasgow Museums, points out, while what can now be regarded as Sánchez Coello’s painting remains
a fascinating portrait, “although we now understand who painted the work, the
identity of the mysterious lady is still unanswered. It is certain the Lady in a Fur Wrap will continue
to intrigue and inspire for generations to come.”
Scottish Art News, November 18th 2019
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