La Bella
La Bella is a portrait of an unknown woman by Titian, painted around 1536 and now in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence. The work of a mature artist, it shows the woman with Renaissance ideal proportions and a natural expressive force. The composition is clear.[1]
| La Bella | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Artist | Titian |
| Year | c. 1536 |
| Type | painting |
| Medium | oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 100 cm × 75 cm (39 in × 30 in) |
| Location | Palazzo Pitti, Florence |
La Bella is often discussed in relation to Titian's Portrait of Isabella d'Este in Vienna, which was commissioned as an idealized, youthful portrait by the patron, who was then in her sixties. Eye colour, hair colour, eye brows and sex appeal echo other portraits of Isabella d'Este.[2]
Titian likely used the same model for the Venus of Urbino.[3] Both pictures are documented in letters[4] by Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, who was the husband of Isabella d'Este's daughter Eleonora Gonzaga. The Venus of Urbino was painted for the marriage of their son,[5] so there are similarities and the environment of the same family.
La Bella points with her hand to a zibellino, which is associated with Venetian mature noble ladies and again, Isabella d'Este was one of the first ladies to wear.[6]
References
- (in Spanish) Los maestros de la pintura occidental, Taschen, 2005, page 176, ISBN 3-8228-4744-5
- Leandro Ozzola, Isabella d'Este e Tiziano, in Bollettino d'arte, 1931, p. 491-494 Download: http://www.bollettinodarte.beniculturali.it/opencms/multimedia/BollettinoArteIt/documents/1407155929929_06_-_Ozzola_491.pdf
- Corrado Cagli: L'opera completa di Tiziano, Rizzoli Milano 1969, no. 177 - La Bella
- Ciatti, Marco/ Navarro, Fausta/ Riitano, Patrizia: Titian's La Bella - Woman in a Blue Dress.Edifir Firenze 2011, pp. 41-48, ISBN 978-88-7970-523-3 (Original letters in Italian and English)
- Goffen, Rona: Sex, Space and History in Titian's Venus of Urbino, in Titian's Venus of Urbino, ed. by Goffen, Rona, Cambridge 1997, pp. 63-90
- (in German) Malaguzzi, Silvia: Schmuck und Juwelen in der Kunst. Parthas Verlag Berlin 2008, p. 274, ISBN 978-3-936324-94-5