Artist Titian Medium oil on canvas | Year c. 1536 | |
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Dimensions 100 cm × 75 cm (39 in × 30 in) Location Palazzo Pitti, Florence | ||
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.
La Bella is often discussed as alternative to Titian's Portrait of Isabella d'Este in Vienna, because the order was a cajoling rejuvenated portrait by the more than 60 years old art patron. Eye colour, hair colour, eye brows and sex appeal would even homogenize all portraits of Isabella d'Este.
Titian likely used the same model for the Venus of Urbino. Both pictures are documented in letters by Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, who was the husband of Isabella's daughter Eleonora Gonzaga. The Venus of Urbino was painted for the marriage of their son, so there are similarities and the environment of the same family.
Symbol language: La Bella points with her hand to a zibellino, which is associated with the Venetian mature noble ladies and again, Isabella d'Este was one of the first ladies to wear.