La fornarina

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Portrait of a Young Woman (La fornarina)
Raphael, 1518-1519
Oil on wood
85 × 60 cm
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.

[edit] See also

  • La velata, another Raphael painting of the same subject.

[edit] External links


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Raphael
Early Works
Florentine period
Portrait of Elisabetta Gonzaga • Self-portrait • Madonna of the Grand Duke • Ansidei Madonna • Young Man with an Apple • Christ Blessing • Madonna Terranova • Madonna of the Goldfinch • Madonna of the Meadow • Esterhazy Madonna • St. George and the Dragon • La Donna Gravida • Portrait of Agnolo Doni • Portrait of Maddalena Doni • Madonna of the Pinks • Young Woman with Unicorn  • Madonna with Beardless St. Joseph • Saint Catherine of Alexandria • Canigiani Holy Family • La belle jardinière • Deposition of Christ • The Three Theological Virtues • Portrait of a Young Woman • Tempi Madonna • Madonna Colonna • Madonna de Bogota
Roman period
Portrait of Cardinal Alessandro Farnese • La disputa • The School of Athens • Madonna of Loreto • Aldobrandini Madonna • Madonna with the Blue Diadem • Alba Madonna • The Parnassus • The Cardinal Virtues • The Prophet Isaiah • The Expulsion of Heliodorus from the Temple • Portrait of Pope Julius II • Madonna of Foligno • Triumph of Galatea • Sistine Madonna • Madonna della seggiola • Madonna dell'Impannata • Madonna della tenda • The Fire in the Borgo • The Meeting of Leo the Great and Attila • Deliverance of Saint Peter • Portrait of Bindo Altoviti • The Sibyls • The Ecstasy of St. Cecilia • Portrait of Balthasar Castiglione • La Donna Velata • Portrait of Tommaso Inghirami • Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila in Borgo • Portrait of Andrea Navagero and Agostino Beazzano • Portrait of Cardinal Bibbiena • Double Portrait • Church of Sant'Eligio degli Orefici • Creation of the World • Transfiguration • Portrait of Pope Leo X with two Cardinals • Christ Falling on the Way to Calvary • The Holy Family of Francis I • Ezechiel's Vision • St. Michael Vanquishing Satan  • Madonna of the Rose • Self-portrait with a Friend • La fornarina • Visitation