- La fornarina
Infobox Painting|
title=Portrait of a Young Woman (La fornarina)
artist=Raphael
year=1518 -1519
type=Oil on wood
height=85
width=60
city=Rome
museum=Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica The "Portrait of a Young Woman" (also known as "La fornarina") is a painting by the Italian
High Renaissance masterRaphael , made between1518 and1520 . It is housed in theGalleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica inPalazzo 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 [http://www.galleriaborghese.it/barberini/it/fornarin.htm] . In the16th century the picture was in the house of the Countess of Santafiora, a Roman noblewoman, and subsequently became property of the DukeBoncompagni 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 [http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140673602119970/fulltext] . 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
* [http://www.galleriaborghese.it/barberini/it/fornarin.htm Official website page] it icon en icon
* [http://www.artonline.it/opera.asp?IDOpera=122 Page at artonline.it] it icon
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