"Nature has given us eyes, to declare our internal emotions…"
⁓ Cicero, The Ideal Orator
This is a portrait believed to be of Vittoria Colonna, an Italian poet famous in her own time. She is identified by the words painted onto the page of the open book to which she points. Though poorly legible due to past restoration, the sonnet can still be identified.
Colonna was a close friend to Michelangelo who, along with their circle known as the Spirituali, were deeply interested in the ideas and theology of the reformers of northern Europe, now taking root in Italy and Spain to the dismay of the Catholic states.
The sonnet to which she points speaks of the soul's repose in God and a rejection of worldliness. Her direct eye contact with the viewer establishes a triangulation between the words on the page, her hand on her heart and her audience, engaging us in a modest plea to imitate her faith.
The variety and harmony of colour in the portrait is a delight for the eye. Sebastiano clothes the sitter in rich, red velvet brocade with a modest linen head shawl. Beyond the window's bright green curtain, a pleasant landscape may be seen, bathed in golden light, through which the poetic mind may wander. Alongside her gestures and eye contact, such painterly ornamentation, unlike the stark symphony in black of the Doria portrait, wins us over of Colonna’s personality and virtue.
