少女肖像

In Florence around 1470 the fashion was to paint a young woman much as the ancient Romans had struck their emperors on coins, in strict profile, motionless, against a plain sky. This is one of the finest of them. The girl faces left and never meets your eye. Her hair is bound in a pearl-wound veil, her dress patterned in gold, and every piece of her jewellery is set down with a goldsmith's precision, which fits, because the Pollaiuolo brothers who painted it trained as goldsmiths. The richness of her clothes points to a wealthy family, and portraits like this were often made around the time of a marriage. We no longer know her name.