This library is built in the open.
If you spot an error, have a suggestion, or just want to say hello — we’d love to hear from you.
Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 3.0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileThe sitter is framed by two classical columns, wearing a dress with high-waisted green fabric and detached crimson sleeves. She wears a gold chain with a large ruby and pearl pendant, reflecting her high social status. The small unicorn she holds is a traditional symbol of virginal purity, suggesting the painting may have been intended as a wedding portrait.
The unicorn is a primary figure in the Western bestiary tradition, symbolizing purity and the ability of virtue to tame wild nature, a theme central to Renaissance Neoplatonic thought. The specific use of the ruby and pearl also relates to the lapidary traditions of natural philosophy, where stones were assigned moral and protective virtues.
Physiologus
This foundational text of the bestiary tradition establishes the unicorn as a creature that can only be captured by a virgin, serving as an allegory for purity.
Object
Oil on panel
portrait
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on April 1, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.