2487. BARTOLOMMEO BIANCHINI.
Francia (Bolognese: 1450-1517). See 180.
This picture, an early work by Francia, is an admirable example of the artist as a portrait-painter. It is "a marvel of fine condition, and betrays the technique of the goldsmith seeking for the quality of enamel. Bianchini was a Bolognese senator, collector, poet, and friend of Francia." Upon a "Holy Family" in the Berlin Museum is inscribed—
Bartholomei sumptu Bianchini maxima matrum
Hic vivit manibus, Francia, picta tuis.
Our portrait, from the collection of the Princesse de Sagan, was No. 23 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1894.