Portrait of a Lady with Flowers (Allegory of Spring)

Originally intended by a hitherto unknown artist as octagonal, the two paintings of ladies (inv. nos. 628 and 629) were later changed to a portrait rectangular format. The pictures are enhanced by skilfully executed arrangements of fruit and flowers.
The "Portrait of a Lady with Flowers" is also listed as "Allegory of Spring" – spring being personified in allegories as a young woman. She wears flowers in her hair, but it is unclear whether she is taking flowers from the bouquet or arranging them. In his "Iconologia", Cesare Ripa describes spring as "all manner of lovely and fragrant flowers and herbs“. A pillar and two rocks interrupt the view into the cloudy background landscape.

Translated catalogue text from:
Ducke Astrid: Zurückgeholt. Residenzgalerie Salzburg, Salzburg 2017, S. 66
Translation: Gail Schamberger MA, Salzburg