Giovanni Antonio Guardi

Private collection, until circa 2014.

The canvas is lined. The painting presents a delicate figure underneath a slightly discolored varnish. Some of the details on the shadows are difficult to read. Craquelure is more prominent in the lower right and upper right quadrants. Underneath the UV light, scattered areas of retouches are along all the edges, including in the blue robe at left, in the floor on the foreground, and in the curtain at right. Spots of retouching are scattered throughout the body of the figure, with a more concentrated area visible on her legs and abdomen. Another concentrated are of retouching is visible in the shadows beneath her seat. Retouching to possibly address an old filled repair appears to be on top of her head. The painting is offered in a painted wood frame with gilded carvings throughout.
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This representation of the face of Danaë in the present composition is similar to how Guardi depicts the face of the young lady in Pharaoh's Daughter, after Palma il Giovane, now in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (inv. no. PD.22-1952).