Follower of Tiziano Vecellio, called Titian

Art market, New York;
George Encil (1906- 1995), Paris, Vienna and the Bahamas.

R. Pallucchini, Tiziano, Florence 1969, vol. II, p. 304;
R. Pallucchini, 'Una nuova Pomona di Tiziano', in Pantheon, 1971, vol. XXIX, pp. 114- 124;
H.E. Wethey, The Paintings of Titian, The Portraits, vol. II, New York 1971, p. 115, under no. 60, variants and copies;
R. Pallucchini, in Experience and Adventures of a Collector, Paris 1989, pp. 16- 21, reproduced.

The canvas has a tight relining which has flattened the paint surface somewhat. The herring-bone weave of the Venetian canvas can be made out with the naked eye. The paint surface is dirty but secure; it appears rather abraded in the dish and the the drapery centre right. The background appears a little thin. A restored hole of 4 by 4 cm can be seen to the left of the left hand. Inspection under UV light reveals some retouchings scattered throughout, and more concentrated in the aforementioned areas of abrasion in the dish, drapery and background. The painting would beneft from a clean. Offered in a later elaborate carved wooden frame in good overall condition.
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This design is derived from Titian's Salome, dated to around 1550-1555, and now in the Prado, Madrid. In the picture in Madrid it is the head of John the Baptist on the platter, whereas here and in other variants painted by Titian and his workshop, the figure carries fruits.¹ The fruit has often been taken to indicate that the subject was intended to represent the Roman nymph Pomona, although this is not certain. The traditional idea that the girl depicted is Titian's daughter Lavinia, is probably apocryphal.

1. See for example the slightly later version in the Staatliche Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, reproduced in P. Humfrey, Titian. The complete Paintings, London 2007, pp. 282- 283, cat. nos. 213 and 214, reproduced.