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Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileThe woman is shown half-length, framed by two columns overlooking a vast, atmospheric landscape. She wears a low-cut green bodice with voluminous red sleeves and a gold necklace featuring a prominent square-cut ruby and a teardrop pearl. The docile unicorn rests in her arms, looking toward the viewer.
This work utilizes the unicorn as an allegorical attribute for chastity and virginal purity, a motif deeply rooted in the medieval bestiary tradition and Renaissance Neoplatonism. The inclusion of the creature elevates the portrait from a likeness of a noblewoman to a symbolic representation of moral virtue and courtly ideals.
Physiologus
The primary source for the unicorn's symbolism as a creature that can only be captured by a virgin, representing purity.
Marsilio Ficino
His Neoplatonic theories on beauty as a reflection of divine virtue inform the idealized depiction of the sitter.
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.