La Fornarina
c. 1518–1520 · Oil on panel · Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica
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About this work
- Artist
- Raphael (1483–1520)
- Year
- c. 1518–1520
- Medium
- Oil on panel
- Original size
- 87 × 63 cm
- Collection
- Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica (Palazzo Barberini), Rome
- Movement
- Renaissance
A young woman with dark hair bound in a striped silk turban sits half-draped before a dark myrtle bush, a plant sacred to Venus, one hand at her breast and the other in her lap, a sheer veil at her waist and a red cloth over her knees. A blue armband on her left arm is inscribed RAPHAEL VRBINAS, the painter's signature. Raphael painted the panel in Rome in about 1518–1520, and it was probably still in his studio when he died in 1520; his assistant Giulio Romano is thought to have retouched and sold it. Tradition identifies the sitter as Margherita Luti, a baker's daughter said to have been Raphael's lover, hence the name La Fornarina; scholars have questioned this and also read the picture as an ideal beauty rather than a portrait. X-rays show that a landscape first filled the background, and a ring on her left hand was painted over. It hangs in the Palazzo Barberini, part of the Gallerie Nazionali di Arte Antica in Rome.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A dark-haired woman in a gold-striped turban against a near-black myrtle hedge, warm flesh and deep red, for a bedroom, dressing room or study at 24×36 in black. A deep red, charcoal or warm plaster wall; it pairs with Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I.
Style, size & framing detail
- Style
- Renaissance painting
- Era
- 16th century (c. 1518–1520)
- Orientation
- Portrait
- Mood
- intimate
- Rooms
- bedroom, study or library, living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. We'd hang this one at 24×36. Prints at 12×18, 16×24, 24×36 in — 12×18 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 16×24 above a desk, console or in a hallway; 24×36 as the statement piece above a sofa or bed.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; natural wood lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is La Fornarina in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was La Fornarina painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
