La Fornarina
| Portrait of a Young Woman (La fornarina) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Raphael |
| Year | 1518-1519 |
| Type | Oil on wood |
| Location | Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome |
The Portrait of a Young Woman (also known as La fornarina) is a painting by the Italian High Renaissance master Raphael, made between 1518 and 1520. It is housed in the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica in Palazzo Barberini, Rome.
It is probable that the picture was in the painter's studio at his death in 1520, and that it was modified and then sold by his assistant Giulio Romano[1]. In the 16th century the picture was in the house of the Countess of Santafiora, a Roman noblewoman, and subsequently became property of the Duke Boncompagni and then of the Galleria Nazionale which still possesses it.
The woman is traditionally identified with the fornarina (bakeress) Margherita Luti, the semi-legendary Roman lover of Raphael (see biography), though, probably, the true meaning of the picture has still to be cleared up. The woman is pictured with an oriental style hat and bare breasts. She is making the gesture to cover her left breast, or to turn it with her hand, and is illuminated by a strong artificial light coming from the external. Her left arm has a narrow band carrying the signature of the artist, RAPHAEL URBINAS. Art historians and scholars debate whether the right hand on the left breast reveal a cancerous breast tumour detailed and disguised in a classic pose of love [2]. The particular fixed glance of the young woman also contributes to the artificiality of the whole composition.
X-Ray analysis have shown that in the background was originally a Leonardesque-style landscape in place of the myrtle bush, which was sacred to Venus, goddess of love and passion.
See also
- La velata, another Raphael painting of the same subject.
External links