The daughter of Herodias, with a face of haunting beauty, points to a vase, over which the executioner holds the head of John the Baptist. The table on which it rests has sphinxes for supports. This picture is a replica with variations of the one by Cesare in the Vienna Gallery, and is said to have come from the Barberini Palace in 1799.
2486. A CONCERT.
Ercole Roberti de' Grandi (Ferrarese: 1450-1496). See 1127.
This picture was No. 14 at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1894, where it was ascribed to Lorenzo Costa. "In type, the woman resembles one of the daughters of Bentivoglio II., and it may be that this group of musicians contains family portraits of the reigning house of the Bentivogli at Bologna."
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.