1530-1540?

Painting, Cabinet des Peintures, Château, Fontainebleau.

The inventory of 19 January 1692 (verified in October, 1694) of the Cabinet des Peintures at Fontainebleau (Herbet, 1937, 94) records: “Une Grèque vêtue de rouge, par Rousse.”  The inventory listing is mentioned by Béguin in Cox-Rearick, 1972, 5, and in Scailliérez, 1992, 18, with the attribution to Rosso as made by d’Estrechy.  If this picture was actually by Rosso, it is most likely that it was painted in France, unless it was brought from Italy after his death.  But there is no indication that Rosso ever painted a non-religious subject before he arrived in France.  However, it is possible that this painting was a portrait, and perhaps identifiable with the pictures that have been related to the lost Portrait of Queen Giovanna of Naples and Sicily, where the sitter is dressed in red (see L.62).