The Estate of Sir Jack and Lady Baer.

By 1530 Italian artists had begun to paint portraits and sacred images on stone. At first artists used slate and marble. By the last decades of the sixteenth century, the repertoire expanded, eventually including alabaster, lapis lazuli, onyx, jasper, agate and amethyst. Paintings on slate were an especially popular genre of painting in Verona, practiced most notably by Felice Brusasorci and Alessandro Turchi, Artists favoured this support in particular for nocturnal scenes. Indeed the dark background provided by the slate support suited the Caravaggesque taste for tenebrist chiaroscuro whilst a colourful palette and often classicising figures give these paintings a softness and elegance unparalleled in his works on a larger scale.

The profane subject of this charming painting, together with its modest scale and slate support, would seem to indicate that this work was intended for a private patron. The colourful draperies stand out against the dark slate background, as do the firmly modelled flesh tones. The curious inscription (upper left) suggests an early English provenance, perhaps a souvenir brought back to Britain following a Grand Tour.