Portrait of a Lady in Mourning

Venice in the 1550s legislated what people could wear, down to sleeves and pearls, and a widow was expected to give up colour and ornament altogether. This woman is in a long black gown with a black veil, which is what marks her as a mourner. Tintoretto adds one thing to it, the rosary in her hands, a standard attribute in portraits of widows. He had made his name in 1548 with the Miracle of the Slave, painted for one of the city's lay confraternities, and by this date he was taking portrait commissions from patricians alongside the large religious work. Dresden dates the canvas to around 1550 to 1555. Her name was never recorded with it.