GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico
(b. 1449, Firenze, d. 1494, Firenze)

Portrait of a Lady

c. 1490
Tempera, oil, and gold on panel, 56 x 38 cm
The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown

This fashionably dressed young woman represents an ideal of femininity often celebrated in Renaissance Florence. Her physical beauty would have been considered a reflection of moral virtue, as suggested by the orange blossom she holds, which symbolizes chastity. The identity of the sitter remains a mystery, but the portrait may have been commissioned to commemorate her marriage - she wears a ring and pendant of the kind traditionally given as wedding gifts.