Lady with unicorn in Pushkin museum 01

The woman is shown from the waist up, framed by two columns and positioned before a distant landscape. She wears a rich dress with puffed sleeves and a necklace featuring a square-cut ruby and a pendant pearl, while cradling a miniature unicorn in her lap.

The unicorn is a traditional symbol of purity and chastity derived from medieval bestiaries, which asserted the creature could only be captured by a virgin. The work reflects the High Renaissance Neoplatonic ideal that physical beauty is an outward manifestation of a virtuous soul.