19th century, From Palma the Elder, The Beautiful

19th century, From Palma the Elder

La Bella

Oil on canvas, 102 x 75 cm

With frame, 119 x 93 cm

The painting in question directly takes inspiration from the famous prototype by Jacopo Negretti, known as Palma il Vecchio (Serina, ca. 1480 – Venice, 1528), known as La Bella, a young woman in half-length that can be traced back to the celebration of the aesthetic ideal of the Venetian Renaissance. The female figure stands out against a dark background and is immortalized with her gaze turned slightly towards the observer, characterized by a candid and luminous complexion and soft copper-blond hair that falls on her shoulders. With her right hand the woman elegantly touches a lock of her thick hair, bringing it towards her chest, while her left hand rests naturally on a stone base in the foreground. The dress features a deep neckline that leaves the throat and upper torso exposed, highlighting a finely gathered white shirt over which rests a sumptuous vivid red cloak, enriched with teal silk inserts and lapels and puffed sleeves decorated with polychrome inserts. Palma Vecchio was, in fact, one of the protagonists of Venetian Renaissance painting. Having moved to Venice from Bergamo at a very young age, he was able to assimilate and rework the lessons of masters such as Giorgione, Giovanni Bellini and Titian. His stylistic signature was distinguished by the majestic use of nuanced color, the softness of flesh tones, and an extraordinary sensorial rendering of fabrics. Highly appreciated by both public patrons for his Sacred Conversations and by private ones for his allegories and portraits, he gave life to the famous ideal trend of the “Belle Donne” — female figures of radiant nuptial beauty and calm sensuality that became a true aesthetic model for the time, in which our canvas fits. Among the curiosities linked to this model is the eternal debate over the identity of the figure: while in the past these sensual images tended to be associated with famous courtesans of the time, modern art-historical criticism interprets the depiction as an allegorical or ideal image of spousal beauty, rich in references to fertility, modesty, and preparation for marriage, where the gesture of combing or touching one's hair harks back to the rituals of bridal grooming. In Palma Vecchio's autograph masterpiece (now preserved at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid), there is also an enigmatic inscription in capital letters on the stone parapet, “AMBND,” which scholars have long attempted to decipher as an acronym for a love motto or a dedication that still maintains an aura of fascination and mystery around the painting. The elaboration of this specific pose and the monumental setting of the figure shows a close and direct derivation from the figurative language of Titian Vecellio, in particular from the famous masterpiece Sacred and Profane Love of 1514. Palma Vecchio takes up and reworks the figure of the dressed bride positioned on the left of Titian's sarcophagus, borrowing the elegance of the red drapery, the warm chromatic rendering of the flesh tones, the soft modeling of the face and the presence of the marble parapet used as a spatial and compositional device. Titian's lesson in the use of nuanced color and the tactile rendering of fabrics and precious materials is here assimilated by Palma, who transforms Titian's complex allegory into an icon of seductive serenity and individual beauty. The critical and executive success of this subject was extraordinary, so much so that over time it generated numerous replicas and variations by workshops and collectors fascinated by the myth of Venetian painting. The collecting history of Palma Vecchio's original prototype testifies to the great importance it has always enjoyed: the canvas initially belonged to the prestigious Roman Sciarra-Colonna collection, a historical transition in which the painting was initially known and catalogued under the title La Bella de Tiziano, demonstrating the very strong Titian influence perceived by contemporaries. Subsequently, the work was purchased by Baron Edmond de Rothschild and exhibited in the rooms of the Château de Ferrières, where it remained kept until the mid-twentieth century. It was later sold to Guy de Rothschild and moved to Villa Favorita, the famous residence in Castagnola on Lake Lugano linked to the Thyssen-Bornemisza family, before finally reaching its current and final location in the collections of the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.

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