- Laura (Giorgione)
Infobox Painting|
title=Portrait of a Young Bride (Laura)
artist=Giorgione
year=c. 1506
type=Oil on canvas transferred on wood
height=41
width=33.5
city=Vienna
museum=Kunsthistorisches Museum"Laura", formerly sometimes known as "Portrait of a Young Bride" is a painting by the Italian
Renaissance masterGiorgione , c. 1506. It is in theKunsthistorisches Museum ofVienna ,Austria .Like Giorgione's other works, it is unsigned. An inscription on the reverse, accepted as early sixteenth century, identifies Giorgione as the painter and provides the date, making this the only work by the artist bearing a reliable date. [Brown, et al., 2006, p. 42] It might show a young bride backed by a branch of laurel (Laurus), symbol of
chastity , and carrying the nuptial veil. The gesture of opening the fur mantle to uncover the bosom indicates fecundity (and, therefore, maternity), as an offer of love and seduction. Alternatively, the figure might show acourtesan —certainly many of the paintings in the Venetian tradition the "Laura" inspired were of figures to be read as courtesans, often posing as a mythological figure or the personification of an abstract quality. [Brown, et al., 2006, pp. 208-210]It is one of the less controversial attributions to Giorgione.
This work marked the abandonment of
Giovanni Bellini 's models by Giorgione, to embrace a Leonardesque style.Notes
References
*Brown, D. A., Ferino Pagden, S., Anderson, J., & Berrie, B. H. (2006). "Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian painting" (Washington: National Gallery of Art). ISBN 0300116772
External links
* [http://www.khm.at/system2E.html?/staticE/page710.html Page at Kunsthistorisches Museum]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
