Bellini - Young woman at her toilette

Born into a prominent family of painters, Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516) became official painter of the Republic of Venice in 1483 and, together with his students Giorgione and Titian, was one of the founders of the Venetian High Renaissance. He considered himself almost exclusively a painter of religious subjects. There are only a few paintings by Bellini in which he deals with mythological themes. This Viennese portrait of a young woman, which he painted in 1515, a year before his death, is such an exception. The nude figure is integrated into a system of horizontal and vertical lines. She is seated on a bench covered with a precious carpet and behind her is a dark green surface on which hangs a mirror. On the left, a view of a Venetian landscape gives depth to the painting. In her right hand, the young woman holds another mirror, a symbol of vanity on the one hand and an attribute of Venus Pudica on the other. The work is held by the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.