How does Portrait of a Lady Holding a Fan elucidate its Provenance?
Art historians first identified the painting as being by Artemisia's father, Orazio, probably based on descriptions of the painting in eighteenth-century inventories. Others have seen both the hand of father and daughter,  but there is now consensus that the painting is solely by Artemisia. The confident pose of the and luxurious black costume evoke the portraits done by Anthony van Dyck and Pieter Paul Rubens in Genoa at the same time, but there is no evidence to suggest Artemisia visited the city.  Artemisia did have personal connections in Genoa and this portrait may represent an attempt to secure patronage from its wealthy elite.The painting was documented as being in the collection of the aristocratic Balbi family by 1682. It passed through the descendants of the Balbi and Spinola families to Admiral Franco Spinola, who along with his property at Villa Pagana, bequeathed it to its present owners in 1959.
Villa Pagana Orazio Genoa