Portrait of a Lady
Shown from the waist up, a young woman with pale, peachy skin faces and looks directly at us in this vertical portrait painting. The subtly upturned corners of her mouth and the outer corners of her eyes are touched with shadows. Her delicate eyebrows are faintly painted over dark brown eyes. She has a long straight nose and an oval-shaped face framed by large teardrop pearl earrings. Her dark brown hair is parted down the middle and pulled back under a wide, gold-colored headdress, which creates a halo-like ring around her head. Precisely formed curls rest against her forehead over each temple. Her black dress has voluminous, puffy sleeves framing a sheer, butter-yellow panel covering her chest. White ruffles emerge at her neck and cuffs. A gold Maltese cross, which flares at the end of each arm, hangs from a thick gold chain that falls over her chest and down to her waist. She touches the chain with her left hand, on our right, and with the other she holds the body of a small furry brown animal with bared teeth. The background behind the woman is black down the center and a dark emerald-green curtain falls to either side.
Details
- Palette
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Select a color to find related artworks.
- Medium
- oil on panel
- Dimensions
- overall: 77 × 57.5 cm (30 5/16 × 22 5/8 in.) framed: 98.11 × 78.42 × 6.99 cm (38 5/8 × 30 7/8 × 2 3/4 in.)
- Department
- CIS-R
- Holding institution
- National Gallery of Art
- Image provider
- national-gallery-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Art Genome Taxonomy
11 tags
Subject Matter
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Individual Portrait Both · 99%
The title and catalog description identify the work as a portrait, and the image shows a single sitter presented from the waist up.
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Face Visual · 98%
The sitter’s carefully modeled face occupies the compositional center and is directed toward the viewer.
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Animals Both · 97%
A small furry brown animal with bared teeth is visibly held at the lower left of the composition and is specifically noted in the catalog description.
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Related to Fashion Visual · 90%
The elaborate headdress, patterned bodice, ruffled cuffs and collar, earrings, chain, and voluminous sleeves make clothing and adornment prominent subjects of the image.
Visual Qualities
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Dark Colors Visual · 95%
Black clothing and a nearly black central background dominate the tonal field, contrasted with the sitter’s pale skin and gold-yellow garments.
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Balance Visual · 92%
The centrally placed sitter, broad headdress, and expansive sleeves create a stable, strongly balanced arrangement.
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Patterns Visual · 90%
Repeated decorative motifs are visible across the headdress, bodice, ruffles, jewelry, and surrounding drapery.
Medium and Techniques
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Oil Painting Metadata · 99%
The National Gallery of Art records the medium as oil on panel.
Time Periods
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16th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog date of 1520/1525 places the work in the sixteenth century.
Jewelry and Fashion Object Types
Source & rights
Bernardino Luini. Portrait of a Lady. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.