D2408

Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 209; Larghezza: 147; Varie: inv. D2408 a (ritratto di giovane vedova). Solo questo primo foglio, dei due incollati sullo stesso controfondo, ha anche segni a pietra rossa; Unità di misura: mm; Altezza: 209; Larghezza: 149; Varie: inv. D2408 b (ritratto della cantatrice Adriana Basile)

pietra rossa

The two sheets, one (inv. D2408b) from 1619 and the other (inv. D2408a) from 1625, were glued together on a single mount at a later date, during their history as part of a collection. The identity of the subject of the later portrait (D2408a), of a young widow (Primarosa 2017, cat. 553 p. 591), is unknown, although it can be inferred from the transparency that the woman's name was indicated on the reverse when the sheets were reorganised in the Borghese collection after Leoni's death. In the portrait (D2408b), on the other hand, it has been possible to interpret the inscription on the back and identify the figure as the opera singer Adriana Basile, well known in her day, celebrated as the “siren of Posillipo”, remembered in the rhymes of Giovan Battista Marino and appreciated by the Italian courts, from Naples to Florence (Primarosa 2017, cat. 408 pp. 501-502). Two female portraits.