The rather wonderful looking Frick Collection in New York are currently displaying Francesco Mazzola Parmigianino's Antea in similar circumstances and it's gorgeous. The Economist has a review and they're awed by it:
"Hanging on a temporary, free-standing wall in the middle of the Frick's Oval Room, a glowing “Antea” beckons to visitors from across the museum's sepulchral Garden Court. Quite who the sitter was remains a mystery. The catalogue, by Christina Neilson, a Renaissance specialist and Frick fellow, reads like a detective story; though not so much a “whodunit” as a “who is it”."It is a pretty extraordinary work (here's a rather crusty image). At both of the above linked articles there's much about the speculation about the sitter's identity and while that might be of interest to Parmigianino's biographers, some paintings undoubtedly gain from the viewer now knowing its history and intent; thriving on the mystery. Like an unrequited one sided love affair the reality can't possibly live up to our imagination.
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