AFTER GIULIO PIPPI, CALLED GIULIO ROMANO AND RAFFAELLO SANZIO, CALLED RAPHAEL

With impressive provenance, having once belonged to Emperor Napoleon III, this painting is a copy after Raphael and Giulio Romano’s extravagant portrait, now in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. The Louvre painting was formerly thought to depict Giovanna d’Aragona but in fact represents Doña Isabel de Requesens, wife of Don Ramon Folc de Cardona I de Requesens, viceroy of Naples from 1509 to 1522. The portrait was commissioned from Raphael by Cardinal Bibbiena, a friend of the viceroy, on behalf of Pope Leo X as a diplomatic gift for King Francis I of France. According to Vasari, a cartoon for the portrait was prepared by Raphael who then sent his pupil, Giulio Romano, to Naples to execute the painting. All, that is, except for the face, which was completed by Raphael himself.