Naked young woman with a mirror ( Italian: Giovane donna nuda allo specchio ) - painting by Italian Renaissance artist Giovanni Bellini (1433-1516), a representative of the Venetian school of painting . One of the last works of the Italian painter. It was created in 1515 . It is stored in the Museum of the History of Art in Vienna (inv. No. GG 97).
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| Giovanni Bellini | ||
| Nude young woman with a mirror . 1515 | ||
| ital. Giovane donna nuda allo specchio | ||
| Wood, oil . 62 × 79 cm | ||
| Museum of the History of Art , Vienna | ||
| ( inv. ) | ||
Content
History
The canvas was created when the artist was over 80 years old. This is one of Bellini’s few secular paintings, like The Feast of the Gods (located at the National Gallery of Art in Washington ), written in 1514 for Alfonso I d'Este , Duke of Ferrara . The choice of such topics is probably due to the fact that Bellini began to take a fresh look at the work of his students: Giorgione (1477-1510) and Titian (1490-1576).
It was acquired by James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Hamilton in 1638 and remained in his family until 1659, after which it was bought by Leopold Wilhelm of Austria and was stored in Brussels .
Story
The image of a naked woman is not traditional for the master’s work. The canvas depicts a naked young woman during the morning toilet on the background of the landscape. She straightens her hair, holding a mirror in her hand, and thanks to the second mirror hanging on the wall, the viewer can see the jewelry from a rich pearl necklace attached to an embroidered shawl.
The face of a young woman sitting by the window with a mirror in her hand is thoughtful, the subtle features inherent in her high descent are simple and noble. Calmness, clear spirituality are characteristic of all the best works of the mature Bellini period. Outside the window you can see the morning landscape : a thick blue sky, mountains in the distance and a thin strip of slowly rising sun. This painting depicting an idealized model and a landscape in the distance resembles some of Bellini's paintings, representing the Virgin Mary . However, in this case, the artist, of course, had no intention of creating an object of religious veneration; this nude is the secular ideal of female beauty.
In his work, Bellini made an attempt to combine landscape and figure and with the help of light to create a holistic, almost dreamy mood, characteristic of the Venetian school of painting.
Notes
Literature
- “Museum of the History of Art. Vein". Edited by Sylvia Borghese = Kunsthistorisches Museum. Vienna - / Per. with ital. - M.: BMM CJSC, 2007. - 144 p. - (Great museums of the world) - 3000 copies. - ISBN 978-88-370-2769-8 .
- Wolfgang Prohaska. Vienna Museum of the History of Art. Painting". - London: Scala Publishers, 2011 .-- 128 p. - (“Museums of the world”) - 7000 copies. - ISBN 978-34-065-2756-2