Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional Search Ir al contenido principal

Navegación superior (EN)

About Us Support Become Friend Shop Tickets
Español
Visit Collection Exhibitions Activities Education Search
  • Visit
  • Collection
  • Exhibitions
  • Activities
  • Education

Thyssen - Navegación superior (EN)

About Us Support Become Friend Shop Tickets
Español
©
Carmen Thyssen Collection
Giambattista Piazzetta

Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile with a Mask in her Right Hand

ca. 1720 - 1730
Oil on canvas.
46 x 36.2 cm
Carmen Thyssen Collection
Inv. no. (
CTB.1999.5
)
ROOM 16
Level 2
Permanent Collection
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 14 13 15 16 17 18 22 19 20 21 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 Recommended start of the visitClassical rooms
1 14th Century. Early Italian Painting 2 15th Century. German and Spanish Painting 3 15th Century. Early Netherlandish Painting 4 15th Century. Italian Painting 5 15th and 16th Centuries. Renaissance Portraiture 6 16th Century. Villahermosa Gallery 7 16th Century. Italian Painting 8 15th and 16th Centuries. German Painting 9 15th and 16th Centuries. German Painting 10 16th Century. Netherlandish Painting 11 Tiziano, Tintoretto, Bassano and  El Greco 12 17th Century. Caravaggio and Baroque Painting 13 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 14 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 15 17th Century. Italian, French and Spanish Painting 16 18th Century. Italian Painting 17 18th Century. Italian Painting 18 18th Century. Italian Painting 19 Classical rooms 20 Classical rooms 21 Classical rooms 22 18th Century. Italian Painting 23 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 24 18th Century. French and English Painting 25 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Scenes of Daily Life and Interiors 26 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 27 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Portrait 28 17th Century. Dutch Painting. Landscape 29 19th Century. European Painting. Goya and Romanticism  
This young woman, who seems to have suddenly turned to her right, looks as if she has been portrayed during an interlude in the celebrations of Carnival, as she delicately holds between her index finger and her thumb the small mask which will make her identification difficult. On her shoulders, slightly open to reveal the chaste neckline, is the black cloak of the bautta, the traditional dress of Venetian women.

The chronological attribution of the painting -on which is based the engraving Franz Xaver Jungwirth made, among others, shortly after the middle of the 18th century- to the first mature years of the artist, that is, the 1720s, a fact undoubtedly plausible from a stylistic point of view, could also be deduced from an external detail: the woman portrayed has been identified as being Rosa Muziolo (1701-1771), a model and, from 1724, Piazzetta's wife.

Even if this identification were incorrect, there is no doubt that the face of the woman portrayed in the small Thyssen canvas appears many times in the works of Piazzetta, and with such insistence that it may at least be supposed there was a certain familiarity between the artist and the model.

If, as Knox believes, Rosa Muziolo, just over the age of twenty, is the person portrayed in a drawing belonging to the Royal Collections in Windsor Castle, in which we can see the bust of a young woman in left profile, her hands together, then we should identify also as Rosa the Susanna of the famous painting by Piazzetta today at the Uffizi (and which belonged for some time to Francesco Algarotti's brother, Count Bonomo), whose execution, at the latest in the first years of the 1720s, would confirm Knox's hypothesis.

If we limit ourselves to following the fil rouge of this image of a young woman in profile holding in her right hand her Carnival mask (il volto), we will see that, in spite of the limitations of the subject, we will have made a useful-not only iconographically-journey into the world of Piazzetta.

So it seems that Rosa Muziolo has to be considered as the protagonist of some of the most famous paintings by her illustrious husband, in spite of the fact that they show the marks of a "neo-17th-century" style and offer a chiaroscuro approach which are not to be found in the delicate "domestic" characterisation of the Thyssen portrait.

Indeed, how can we not think of the implacable executor in Judith and Holofernes, from the Academy of Saint Luke in Rome, with her slightly rounder cheeks, or the protagonist of Rebecca by the Well from the Brera Museum?

The execution of the masterpiece is usually dated around the middle of the 1730's, which could explain, in contrast with the freshness of the young woman in her early twenties in the Carmen Thyssen painting, a slightly fuller, more florid figure.

If the analogy between this painting and the profile of the figure in the oval panel of the Fortitude in the chapel of the Sacrament in the church of San Zanipolo in Venice may seem simply mechanical (it is, in any case, a painting executed in 1727, a date not far from that of the Thyssen Portrait), what is striking is the woman standing in the famous Walk in the Countryside at the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum in Cologne, painted for Marshal von der Schulenburg (together with the no less famous Pastoral Scene now in Chicago, whose main character should be identified as Rosa Piazzetta). However, it is true that this feminine profile, strongly foreshortened, with half-closed eyelids, all in all rather stereotypical and of a marked geometry -and, for this reason, almost worthy of Bencovich- seems to be more indebted to the ideal image d'antan of his wife, who, at the time when the Schulenburg picture was painted, was well into her forties.

The physiognomy of a young woman, with a slightly more bony face, can be recognised in a drawing from the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice (Girl with Vase, 37.5 x 27 cm); and we should also bear in mind the study kept at the Civiche Raccolte di Disegni e Stampe at the Castello Sforzesco (charcoal and touches of white chalk, 24.1 x 18.6 cm), in Milan, made for the Fiorellin d'Amore at the Cleveland Museum of Art (40.2 x 54.9 cm).

Roberto Contini

18th Century18th Century - Italian paintingPaintingOilcanvas
Listen
Download image Print page

Products and publications

Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile with a Mask in her Right Hand

Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile with a Mask in her Right Hand

17.00 €

Max Beckmann, figuras del exílio. Exhibition catalogue. Hardcover. Spanish.

Max Beckmann, figuras del exílio. Exhibition catalogue. Hardcover. Spanish.

38.00 € 9.50 €

Catalog Walid Raad: Cotton Under My Feet (English)

Catalog Walid Raad: Cotton Under My Feet (English)

25.00 € 23.75 €

Los impresionistas y la fotografía. Exhibition catalogue. Spanish Hard Cover

Los impresionistas y la fotografía. Exhibition catalogue. Spanish Hard Cover

38.00 € 25.00 €

Visit online shop

More from the collection

Giambattista Piazzetta
Giambattista Piazzetta
Portrait of Giulia Lama
ca. 1715 - 1720
Giambattista Piazzetta
Giambattista Piazzetta
Self-Portrait
Giambattista Piazzetta
Giambattista Piazzetta
The Sacrifice of Isaac
ca. 1715
Giuseppe Maria Crespi
Giuseppe Maria Crespi
Portrait of Count Fulvio Grati
ca. 1720 - 1723
  • Private and/or didactic use
  • Commercial use
Private and/or didactic use
Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile with a Mask in her Right Hand. Retrato de una joven de perfil con una máscara en la mano derecha, c. 1720-1730
Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile with a Mask in her Right Hand
Giambattista Piazzetta

©

Carmen Thyssen Collection

Terms of Use

The exploitation rights of the images correspond to the Fundación Coleccion Thyssen-Bornemisza, F.S.P. The Fundación authorizes the downloading of high-resolution images from its website for private use, use for educational and research purposes, and non-commercial uses.

Use for educational and research purposes is understood as the non-commercial or advertising use of images in presentations, conferences, school or university work, in classes at regulated education institutions, as well as in academic publications, with a circulation of less than 1,000 copies, provided that it is non-profit.

Non-commercial use is understood as the use of the images in a context where no profit, monetary or commercial, is generated, directly or indirectly.

Any use other than those indicated above will require the prior written authorization of the Fundación.

Any request for educational and research use or for non-commercial use (including academic publications), should be directed by email to the Museum Photo Library through the email address archivo.fotografico@museothyssen.org. This department manages the worldwide distribution of the images of the works of the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum and the management of their reproduction rights for those uses.

The user agrees to use the image of the website solely and exclusively for the purposes described above and in accordance with the following terms of use:

Terms of use

  • If the image is used for reproduction, the work must be reproduced in its entirety. The image may not be manipulated, deformed, modified or altered in any way. In particular, no superposition (of images or texts) on the reproduction is allowed.
  • The reproduction of a detail or part of the work may only be made with the prior written authorization of the Fundación. In this case, the credit line must include the following mention: “detail”.
  • Any total or partial reproduction of the images authorized by the Fundación must be accompanied by the following mention: Author's name. Title, Date © Coleccion Carmen Thyssen.
  • The user will send to the Museum Photo Library one (1) free copy of the edition, publication or reproduction to the following address: Archivo Fotografico, Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Paseo del Prado, 8 28014 Madrid, Spain.
Download image
Commercial use
Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile with a Mask in her Right Hand. Retrato de una joven de perfil con una máscara en la mano derecha, c. 1720-1730
Portrait of a Young Woman in Profile with a Mask in her Right Hand
Giambattista Piazzetta

©

Carmen Thyssen Collection

Terms of Use

The Photo Library of the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza offers sale and rental service of photographic material of all the works of the Carmen Thyssen Collection.

To request images or permits for commercial use in academic or research publications, that is, catalogues of other institutions, monographs and other specialised publications, you should contact the Photo Library by email at the e-mail: @email.

To request images or permits for other commercial or advertising uses (general publications, merchandising, exhibitions, audio-visual works, web pages, etc.), you should contact the Museum's Commercial Archive by email at the e-mail: @email.

The Photo Library and the Museum's Commercial Archive manage the worldwide distribution of images of the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza works, as well as their reproduction rights. The applicable rates are calculated based on the nature and proposed use of the images, as well as the availability of the requested image.

Requests for scans or new photographs will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Once approved, an additional fee will apply. Re-photographing a work will require a minimum of six weeks to complete.

Download image
Thyssen-Bornemisza Museo Nacional

Navegación secundaria (EN)

  • #Thyssenmultimedia
  • Press
  • Corporate events
  • Tourism
  • Join our team
  • Newsletter
Instagram
Facebook
X
Youtube
TikTok
iVoox
LinkedIn

The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza would like to thanks for the collaboration of:

Fundación Mutua Madrileña Master Card Comunidad de Madrid
©2025 Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum

Menú al pie (EN)

  • Legal terms and use of images
  • Public tenders
  • Transparency site
  • Accessibility and quality
  • Sustainability & 2030 Agenda
  • Contact
Ministry of Culture España es cultura | Spain is culture. The website promoting Spanish culture Paisaje de la Luz | Paseo del Prado y Buen Retiro. Paisaje de las Artes y las Ciencias
Certificación de Conformidad con el Esquema Nacional de Seguridad. Categoría Media. RD 311/2022