Portrait of a Woman, Called the Marchesa Durazzo

Anthony van Dyck - Portrait of a Woman, Called the Marchesa Durazzo - The Metropolitan Museum of Art During the six years that he spent in Italy (1621–27), Van Dyck was frequently in the wealthy port city of Genoa, where he painted some of his most magnificent portraits. This sitter is traditionally identified as a member of the Durazzo family, one of several patrician dynasties that dominated Genoese political and cultural life. The theatrical red drapery and loose facture of the portrait attest to Van Dyck’s admiration of the work of the great Venetian painter Titian (ca. 1485/90?–1576), whose paintings he regularly copied during his Italian travels.