Identification

This portrait, attributed by the seller to Frans Pourbus the Younger, was described on the market as that of a Venetian lady holding a «Venetian Lace Fan» and was said to come from a private collection in Florence, Italy. More precisely, its sales title was «Portrait of a Lady with a Venetian Lace Fan c.1595, Remarkable condition 1597».

From a heraldic point of view, the work presents, as a significant element, a coat of arms of oval shape painted on the column accompanying the figure. Oval forms are often associated with the shields of married women; if this late-sixteenth-century shield originated, for example, in England, one could be more confident that there is a relationship between the oval shape of the shield and the lady depicted. Originating in Italy, and more specifically in Venice, this oval shape may have been chosen either because the sitter was a woman or simply as a matter of fashion, since in that period and region oval shields can also be found in ecclesiastical contexts and used by men, the oval then being regarded as a form more architectural and artistic than combative.

I became aware of this painting because I was asked by a university whether I could identify the coat of arms on the column. The identification of coats of arms in historical painting is a slow, uncertain task and, in most cases, an unproductive one. It may require hours, days, weeks or even years, and often does not lead to definitive results. For this reason, I generally try to avoid this type of research.

In this particular case, I was unable to identify it. However, coats of arms, once seen, remain in visual memory; that is precisely what they are designed to do. Twenty months later, while casually reviewing a series of heraldic records published by the Italian heraldist, «Vittorio|Gifra», one of them caught my attention at an unconscious level. I continued moving through the series, but an unmistakable sense arose that something relevant had been overlooked, which led me to go back and examine the entry again with care. At that moment, the lady with the Venetian fan and the coat of arms painted on the column of the portrait immediately came to mind.

The consulted entry stated verbatim: «Stemma famiglia #VOGANZI. @voganzi Arma: d’azzurro, a due tibie in decusse al naturale, accantonate da quattro gigli d’oro. A.S.Mi. Reg. 0002: stemmario Marco Cremosano - 1673; [...] et anco di diverse Famiglie d’Italia, Vol. II°, p. n°333, posizione, 3^ fila e 3° stemma da sx a dx. [Cfr.: Archinto: «de #VOGANZA de Venetia» (I 13 V a)]. Vittorio Gifra. Lun01-12-2025».

Indeed, it had been found: the coat of arms on the column belongs to the Voganzi family of Venice, whose arms are, in Italian «d’azzurro, a due tibie in decusse al naturale, accantonate da quattro gigli d’oro» ~ in English «Azure, two tibiae proper in saltire, between four fleurs de lis Or» ~ in Castilian «escudo de azur, dos tibias al natural en sotuer, cantonadas de cuatro flores de lis de oro».

I then proceeded to document the finding and inform the interested parties.

In the Archinto, the form «Voganza» appears, referring to a specific individual or to the nominal origin of the lineage, in the singular; for example, «una dama de la casa Voganza». By contrast, in the stemmario by Marco Cremosano the form «Voganzi» is recorded, which corresponds to the plural commonly used to designate the collective body of members of the Voganza family. Taking into account that only about 70 years elapsed between the portrait (1597) and the stemmario (1673), it is plausible that at the time the painting was made the surname could already appear as «Voganzi» or in a very similar form. Although surnames do evolve over time, the interval considered is not one of centuries, but of 7 decades.

My most important doubt in this identification concerns the colour of the field; when I first saw it, I hesitated between sable and azure. It seemed too light to be sable, I thought; it could be azure, but it is not very azure, so in my notes I left it as: «either sable or azure».

When I depict elements in saltire, I usually give precedence to the bend over the bend sinister, so my natural inclination would be to place the tibia bendwise above the tibia in bend sinisterwise. In this case, however, I have placed the tibia bend sinisterwise above, in order to remain consistent with the coat of arms on the column. In any event, this is merely an artistic detail, with no relevance from the standpoint of heraldic description, which is the same in both cases.

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Categories: Identification, Interpreted, Watercolor, Outlined in sable, Illuminated, Without divisions, Azure, Two, Tibia, Proper, In saltire, Cantoned, Four, Fleur de lis and Or.