Ritratto di dama in verde

Someone in the 16th century wrote on the back of this panel that it was by the hand of Raphael of Urbino. It is early Bronzino, painted in Florence around 1530 while he was still working close to his teacher Pontormo, and the sitter has never been named with any confidence, though she may be a daughter of a Florentine called Matteo Soffaroni. The picture reached England through Charles I, who bought the bulk of the Gonzaga collection out of Mantua in 1627 and 1628, when the duke's finances collapsed and the greatest princely collection in Italy was sold off in one go. It is at Windsor now, with the old attribution to Raphael still on its reverse.