“La Fornarina,” also known as “La Fornarina Barberini” after the name of the family who acquired it from the Boncompagni around 1642, is recognized as one of Raphael’s greatest masterpieces, as well as one of the major works of the Italian Cinquecento. Painted around 1520, the year of Raphael’s death, the Fornarina depicts a woman who is believed to have inspired other female figures in the artist’s major works, and most notably the “Velata” in the Pitti Gallery in Florence. Although the identification remains uncertain, she is believed to represent the painter’s lover, Margherita Luti, the daughter of a Sienese baker who lived in Rome, hence the name “Fornarina,” from “forno” (oven).

During the nineteenth century the Romantic myth of the muse-lover developed around the painting. According to the sculptor Antonio Canova, who recognized the same character of La Fornarina in Raphael’s frescos in the Stanza di Eliodoro in the Vatican, “she is the most beautiful figure made by Raphael of his loved one” (quoted by Missirini in 1828).

Despite its apparent simplicity, the symbolism is rather complex. X-rays made during the restoration conducted in 2000 and sponsored by Estée Lauder and the Lekythos perfume company, revealed a landscape behind the figure, which Raphael subsequently covered and substituted with branches of myrtle and quince, plants sacred to the Greek goddess Venus and symbols of erotic desire. Post-restoration consensus denies the traditional opinion that Raphael’s pupil Giulio Romano also worked on the painting. The size of the painting, in metrical measurements, is cm 85.5 by 61.5.