Young Woman in Blue with a Fan

Jacopo Negretti, called Palma il Vecchio, Young Woman in Blue with a Fan, c. 1512-14, oil on panel, 25 x 20 1/8 in. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Selected Works

Messer Marsilio Cassotti and His Bride Faustina The Adimari Cassone Apollo and Daphne Portrait of a Woman and a Man at a Casement Venus and Mars Surprised by Vulcan Young Woman in Blue with a Fan

From Cassone to Poesia:
Paintings of Love and Marriage

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Young Woman in Blue with a Fan

Palma il Vecchio's oeuvre includes a remarkable group of paintings of belle donne, half-length portrayals of lovely young women who are not immediately recognizable either as contemporary portraits or as mythological or historical characters. They are variations on a theme — light-haired young women with pale skin who are lavishly dressed (or semidressed) — yet the artist achieved much variety of expression within these limits. It remains difficult to identify them. Are they courtesans, brides, or idealized visions of the beloved? The clue to their meaning may lie in Petrarchan poetry, where love is expressed in equally evocative, conventionalized terms.

Return to From Cassone to Poesia: Paintings of Love and Marriage

Celebrating Betrothal, Marriage, and Childbirth

Profane Love