La Scapigliata, Italian for ‘The Lady with Dishevelled Hair’, is an unfinished painting attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, dated c. 1506–1508, painted in oil, with umber and white lead pigments on a small, 10 × 8-inch, poplar wood panel.
Its attribution remains controversial, with several experts maintaining that the work is by one of da Vinci’s pupils. The painting was recorded in 1826 at the National Gallery of Parma, (Galleria Nazionale di Parma), the museum in which it is currently housed, but proof of its existence may date back to 1531. The painting has no formal name but is best known by the nickname La Scapigliata, in reference to the tousled and waving hair of the subject. It has been known by various other names in combination with La Scapigliata, including Head of a Woman, Head of a Young Woman, Head of a Young Girl, Head and Shoulders of a Woman, Portrait of a Maiden, and Female Head. Most scholars have accepted the work to be an authentic da Vinci. Major exhibitions at the Louvre and in Milan, New York, Paris, and Naples have all displayed the painting as being by da Vinci.
Whatever the name, she is exquisite.
No records of a commission survive for the painting, but it may have been for a private patron. A widely accepted theory is that the work was commissioned by a known da Vinci patron, Isabella d’Este, one of the leading women of the Italian Renaissance, a major cultural and political figure. She was the sister of the first Duke of Modena, Alfonso I d’Este, making Isabella the 5th great aunt of my Rain Dodging heroine, Mary of Modena.
Sometimes the connections blow my mind.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_d%27Este
https://gw.geneanet.org/samlap?lang=en&p=alfonso+iv&n=d+este
