The Allegory of Alfonso D'Avalos c. 1610-90
Oil on canvas | 103.9 x 107.6 x 2.6 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 402910
After Titian (c. 1488-Venice 1576)
The Allegory of Alfonso D'Avalos c. 1610-90
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An oil painting known as ‘The Allegory of Alfonso D'Avalos’. A man in armour, centre, facing left but with his head turned to front, places his right hand on the breast of the woman seated at the left holding a globe. In the right foreground is Cupid, carrying a bundle of arrows. Behind him are two women, one carrying a basket over her head. Titian’s original work is not now believed to represent Alfonso D’Avalos, Marchese del Vasto, but the exact meaning of the allegory has not been agreed. This is one of two copies in the Royal Collection after an original in the Louvre, Paris. The original was in the collection of Charles I, and the copies may also have been in the Royal Collection but their early history is easily confused. This copy is faithful to Titian’s style and is of high quality, but is not a product of his workshop.
Provenance
Possibly the painting sold for £8 from Oatlands to Baker on 1 February 1653 (no 3); recovered at the Restoration and listed in 1666 in the King's Privy Gallery at Whitehall as Cross (no 149); subsequently recorded in the Royal Collection during the reign of Queen Victoria
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Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Oil on canvas
Measurements
103.9 x 107.6 x 2.6 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)
115.7 x 107.7 cm (support (etc), excluding additions)
113.5 x 116.3 x 5.0 cm (frame, external)
122.7 x 107.7 cm (historic support measurement)
131.0 x 116.3 x 5.0 cm (historic frame measurement (external))
Other number(s)
Alternative title(s)
The allegory of Alfonso D'Avalos, Marchese del Vasto