Hope

Copy, on the same verso, from a niello that belonged to the Durazzo collection, now in Paris, Louvre, Rothschild collection.

Inscribed in the flattering banner “SOL IN DEO SPERO”.

The inscription (Only in God I Hope) identifies the woman as an allegory of Hope. The feautures of the woman and the very delicate, but regular technique compare well with nielli usually attribued to Francesco Francia as: Hind, Nielli, n. 242 and n. 247.

The nielli of the Durazzo collection were reproduced in prints by owner’s will, between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, in Venice - as also specified by Malaspina in his catalog of 1824 - constituting a series that was circulated and collected by the amateurs.

Bartsch describes these niello prints in his volume published in 1811, a date that therefore constitutes the terminus ante quem for the execution.