" Woman in front of a mirror " , Titian ,1515

"Woman in front of a mirror", Titian

 

 

 A woman and a mirror is an inexhaustible theme in painting. Mirrors throughout the history of human development attracted and beckoned, symbolized something mysterious and mysterious. Looking into the mirror reflection, a person, as it were, cognizes himself.

 

 And the mirror helped the artist solve genre and compositional problems. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that for centuries many painters have tried to “tame the alluring world of reflections in their work”, and to give the mirror a semantic symbol.

 

 "Woman in front of a mirror" is typical of Titian's work of this period and is an expression of harmonious Titian classicism, brought to perfection by the artist. The painting depicts a beautiful young woman brushing her hair in front of a small mirror held for her by a man. Her back is reflected in another, convex, mirror.

 

 Over time, numerous attempts have been made to identify the woman who gave her face to Titian's portraits. The model for the painting was Violante, mistress and model of Titian. Another (outdated) version says that the painting depicts Laura Dianti. These hypotheses, however, do not agree with the dating based on stylistic analysis, which links the work to 1512-15. Laura Dianti was depicted by Titian in a 1523 work. Probably, a simple model posed for the painting “Woman in front of a mirror”, whose name remains unknown, but she appears in other paintings by the artist.

 

 There is a similar painting depicting a woman combing her hair and a young man holding mirrors. It is kept in Prague.

 "Woman in front of a mirror", Titian
1515 Canvas, oil. Size: 93 × 77 cm Louvre, Paris