Posted 8 years ago
Celiene
(71 items)
Another of my beautiful women art.
Simonetta Vespucci (1454-1476). This 6" plate is after the portrait of her by Piero di Cosimo (1462–1522) (See below).
It was hand painted in Italy exclusively for the H. Liebes Department store in San Francisco (went out of business in 1970). Possibly the only one in existence for all I know! H. Liebes began as a fur trader in 1864 & furrier and expanded into an upscale department store.
All from the web:
"The name Simonetta Vespucci may not say much to many people, yet everyone knows her face. Considered the most beautiful woman of the Renaissance, "la bella Simonetta", as she was nicknamed, was praised by the poets and painted by the painters of her time. She's the inspiration, and the face, of one of the most famous paintings of all times, "The Birth of Venus" by Sandro Botticelli."
Simonetta, daughter of the nobleman Gaspare Cattaneo and his wife Catocchia Spinola, was born in Genoa in 1454. A lovely child, she grew into a stunning young woman. At 15, she married Marco Vespucci (he was a cousin of the famous explorer Amerigo) and moved with him to Florence, the capital of the Italian Renaissance.
She may be depicted in the painting by Piero di Cosimo titled Portrait of a woman, said to be of Simonetta Vespucci that portrays a woman as Cleopatra with an asp around her neck and is alternatively titled by some individuals Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci. Yet how closely this resembles the living woman is uncertain, partly because if this is indeed a rendering of her form and spirit it is a posthumous portrait created about fourteen years after her death. Worth noting as well is the fact that Piero di Cosimo was only fourteen years old in the year of Vespucci's death. The museum that currently houses this painting questions the very identity of its subject by titling it "Portrait of a woman, said to be of Simonetta Vespucci", and stating that the inscription of her name at the bottom of the painting may have been added at a later date."
Celiene,
This is truly spectacular!! What an incredible piece you have here. Your history write up is really great.
Thank you!
Divine.
Beautiful Celiene!!
beautiful!!
Love the history too! - Cheers! - Bob
Thank you all!
Really lovely Celiene
Stunning!!!
Beautiful plate, beautiful woman, great write-up. Yay, you! :)
What a lovely lady which has been beautifully painted Celiene!
HAPPY NEW YEAR CELIENE !!! ! !!!
Wow- I was so excited to come across your dish. I have one, also. There is not an assignation for the luxury retailer H. Liebes- but otherwise the painting was absolutely produced by the same hand! Signed Italy- only. The porcelain is itself incredibly fine and the painting & decoration are superb! Thanks for posting!
Absolutely brilliant. Congratulations.
Hi there. This is a beautiful piece and it appears that we also have one ourselves, same handwriting on the back markings, simply stating "Simonetta Ve Spucci, Italy". There are subtle differences in the detail, such as the larger part of the snake's body around her shoulders are in reverse, whereby there are dots on your piece, they are crisscross on ours, vice versa. Also, the center large blue jewel in her hair is of red, matching the upper hair jewel piece. We have this as a two piece collection, the other small hand painted plate has the rear markings of "Il Musicista (Leonardo), Italy" and is a copy of the portrait of the Musician by Lenardo Da Vinci. They look great together.
How lovely!
outstanding I adore this one
Thank you all! It's interesting to see that other's have one, too, but with subtle differences!
Hi Celiene! While the producer of these plates clearly made more of these miniatures for the mass market, I believe this was part of a special set painted just for H Liebes as I can't find any duplicates. However, I recently stumbled upon a Baby Stuart by Van Dyck, and then saw another dealer with 2 other classical paintings for H. Liebe. I wonder how many there were? I am still in Oakland so my plate didn't travel very far.