Woman Holding an Apple

Woman Holding an Apple, also known as Portrait of a Lady, is an oil on canvas painting by Titian, made c. 1550-1555. It hangs in the National Gallery of Art, in Washington, D.C..

Woman Holding an Apple
Artist	Titian
Year	c. 1550–1555
Medium	oil on canvas
Dimensions	97.8 cm × 73.8 cm (38.5 in × 29.1 in)
Location	National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Accession	1939.1.292

Description

The subject stands at three-quarter length, turned to the left, looking at the spectator. She has long blonde hair and fair skin, and holds an apple in her hands. She wears a green robe, with jewelled border, over a white dress with long sleeves and gold border.

Analysis

In 1940, it was published in The Art News as "Portrait of a Lady in Green, presumably Giulia di Gonzaga-Colonna, Duchess of Traeetto".^[1] In 1941, the Duveen Brothers titled it "Portrait of Giulia di Gonzaga-Colonna [Presumed]".^[2] The tentative identification with the Italian noblewoman of that name is not accepted today, and cannot be sustained with any historical source. Indeed, it may not represent a particular woman in the traditional sense of portraiture, but rather an idealised form of female beauty. The model may be Lavinia, Titian's daughter, who is known to have posed for several of his pictures.^[3]