Titian’s Girl in a Fur Coat is another example of female portraiture that displays ambiguity because the sitter is not classified as a courtesan, but she is wearing a fur coat and exposing her right breast just like Laura. Clearly, the sitter is depicted as one of Titian’s ideal beauties because she is portrayed as very proper with her hair pulled back while she wears jewelry. It is crucial to note the striking similarity that exists between this sitter’s face and that of Veronica Franco. This observation allows one to raise the question as to why this is so if Veronica Franco was not yet born at the time that this portrait was painted. In order to fully develop this analysis, it is necessary to examine Titian’s Lady in a Blue Dress (La Bella) as well.[1] La Bella is shown as properly dressed with a gown that could have been worn by either a woman from the high class or a courtesan. More importantly, her face looks almost identical to that of the sitter in the Girl in a Fur Coat, which again, resembles Veronica Franco. Could it be that the same sitter was used for both of Titian’s paintings or could he have fused the facial characteristics of multiple women together in order to create his ideal beauty? This being said, is the portraiture of Veronica Franco truly what she looked like or did she have the artists alter her appearance so that she could resemble the ideal beauty?
The same can also be said for Titian’s Woman with a Mirror. The woman portrayed in this painting has curly, red hair and very voluptuous body, resembling that of Franco’s. Of course, we know that this cannot be Franco herself because Titian painted this long before she was born, but it prompts the reader to ask whether or not Franco once saw this painting and decided that she wanted to be portrayed looking exactly like these beauties. Furthermore, it is evident that this woman looks identical to the sitters seen in La Bella and Girl in a Fur Coat. All three of these women have the same large, sunken eyes with arched eyebrows, curly red hair, a heart shaped face with rosy cheeks, and small, red lips. Certainly this must not be some kind of coincidence especially since the same features as seen in the portraiture of Franco. However, because of this ambiguity and because of the fact that interpretations can go either way, why is it that Franco was called a courtesan and neither of Titian’s ladies were?
[1] Fortini Brown, 37.
