Portrait of a Young Woman

This painting may have been produced in anticipation of a wedding, for on the back are a series of admonitions that can be thought of as allusions to ideal virtues of married life. The admonitions are mirrored in the girl’s expressionless features as well as in her pose. There can be no question that the picture is of an actual person.

The portrait is similar in concept (apart from the landscape background) to a slightly earlier work from the Ghirlandaio workshop, the Portrait of Selvaggia Sassetti.