Italian: "Ritratto femminile (Elisabetta Gonzaga?)"

The sitter is presented in a rare, strictly frontal pose against a dark background, wearing a black dress with gold trim and a distinctive headband. A small, jeweled ornament shaped like a scorpion rests on her forehead, and she wears several long gold necklaces over a white chemise.

Elisabetta Gonzaga presided over the court of Urbino, which became a primary center for Neoplatonic social philosophy and humanism; the scorpion on her forehead is frequently interpreted as an astrological or apotropaic talisman. She is the central figure in Baldassare Castiglione's 'The Book of the Courtier,' a foundational text for the Renaissance ideal of the refined individual.