Bachiacca (1494–1557), Portrait of a Woman with a Book of Music, ca. 1540–1545

This painting by the Florentine artist Bachiacca (Francesco Ubertini, 1494–1557) shows an unidentified woman wearing an elegant, colorful dress, fashionable in Florence around 1540. Her costume and music book indicate her as a member of a cultured, patrician family. While the embroidery and textures of the sitter's dress are very intricately represented, the melody on the sheet is unintelligible and the notes are partly obscured with the woman's hand.

Bachiacca (Francesco Ubertini, 1494–1557), Portrait of a Woman with a Book of Music, ca. 1540–1545, oil on panel, 103.2 × 80.3 cm; source: J. Paul Getty Museum, object Number: 78.PB.227, digital image courtesy of the Getty's Open Content Program.