Young Woman with Unicorn
A short picture review... Raffaello's work 'Young Woman with a Unicorn', painted in oil on wood between 1505-06, is exhibited at the Galleria Broghese in Rome.
It is unknown who the woman who modeled this work measuring 65x51 cm is known. However, judging from the woman's ribboned velvet dress sleeves, her yellow silk dress, and the precious necklace made of emeralds, pearls and rubies around her neck, we can see that she comes from a noble family. We can understand. The tiny unicorn horse on her lap is thought to symbolize chastity. Because, according to Christian legends, this unicorn, which is a symbol of purity and innocence before the first sin in heaven, disappears after the first sin.
In this painting, Raffaello turned the composition into an allegory of chastity by depicting a unicorn in the lap of his noble model, whose identity we do not know. Like a typical Renaissance artist, he presents the composition with a very realistic appearance.
Here again, the artists of this period placed rural landscapes of Italy in the background to create scene depth. This provides depth to the picture and, on the other hand, increases the perception of reality. It is both as real as the eye can see and yet too fantastic and beautiful to be real... Thanks for reading, stay artistic. 🖤
