This painting is Young Woman with a Fur Coat.  The figure stands angled towards the viewer’s left in a composed and demure stance while making eye contact with the viewer.  She wears a rich, fur coat but appears to be in the process of removing the garment and thus revealing her right breast and arm.  The young woman is adorned with a jeweled headdress, ring and bracelet; and pearl earrings and necklace that were costly even for people of means during the Renaissance.

In comparison to Isabella’s portrait, one could easily assume that this painting is not a portrait because the model is not identified; but here Titian still created an allegorical portrait of sexuality within an individual.  Art historian Rona Goffen noted that he used a model and portrayed his final figure in the likeness of her personality.¹   The woman’s sensual and soft hand on the fur wrap implies physical intimacy with a viewer, potentially making her a prostitute.²  Furthermore, this amount of visible skin suggests eroticism, and thus the notion that prostitutes possibly wanted to emulate proper women, but without directly discussing with Titian himself one cannot be certain that this work of art is a portrait of a prostitute or a woman of status.

It is possible for the girl to be a part of high-ranking society.  If she were married, she would be celebrating the status of her husband by wearing such rich clothing.  At the same time she surrendered herself to him as his companion since her attire was dependent on him because of society’s gender roles.³  The young woman’s glance, the soft touch as she removes her fur and how she embraces herself suggests a relationship with a beloved.  However, Goffen concluded that the portrait is completely psychological and erotic because the young woman is arousing to the viewer who could be either a proper or immoral lover.  But, considering 16^th century gender roles, this is also a portrait of an ideal beauty because the young woman has opaque white skin with rosy cheeks.  The typical oval shaped eyes are dark in color as are her brows that taper above.  Her neck is slim, guiding eyes down to her shoulders emphasizing her décolletage and heightening the eroticism with female gender roles in mind.

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1. Rona Goffen, Titian’s Women, (New Haven:  Yale University Press, 1997), 84-86.
2. Goffen, 86.
3. Goffen, 84-86.