Lady with Unicorn

Sanzio, Raphael

(Urbino 1483 - Rome 1520)

The work was first confirmed as part of the Borghese Collection in the fideicommissary inventory of 1833. It depicts a young woman seated in front of the parapet of a loggia; she is wearing a dress with a tight corset and wide neckline, a gold mesh necklace with a pendant adorned with precious stones and a drop pearl. On her lap she has a small unicorn, a traditional symbol of chastity.

Until 1936, the woman was depicted as St Catherine of Alexandria, characterised by the customary attribute of the spiked wheel instead of the present-day unicorn; on her shoulders a heavy mantle altered the figure’s profile. X-rays taken at the time revealed the presence of a dog beneath the unicorn, an animal associated with the concept of marital fidelity.

Previously attributed to the school of Perugino, Francesco Granacci or Ghirlandaio, after the restoration critics generally agreed on the attribution of the painting to Raphael, as already suggested by Longhi (1927). The painting is considered to be an early work by the artist, variously dated between 1506 and 1509; it has also been conjectured (Coliva 2006; 2020) that it may be a portrait of Maddalena Doni as his bride-to-be, with a consequent dating to 1504-1505.

Object details

Commentary

The young lady is portrayed in partial three-quarter view, seated in front of the parapet of a loggia, as can be seen from the two side columns framing the upper half of the painting. In the background there is a hilly landscape with muted tones. The young woman wears a dress with a tight corset and wide neckline, with a narrow belt around her waist. The border outlining the neckline and the heavy dark red velvet sleeves stand out against the light green fabric. The shoulders are covered by a light veil and she has a gold chain around her neck, with a pendant resting on her chest. It consists of a large central ruby or garnet mounted in gold and finished with a drop pearl. Gold is also used for the small buckle at the waist and the delicate clasp on her hair, which is gathered around the face and falls softly in a braid over the shoulders.

The painting was first recognised with certainty in the fideicommissary inventory of 1833, where it is described as ‘A Portrait representing Santa Caterina della Rota (St Catherine of the Wheel), of the School of Perugino, 2 ½ p. long; 3 p. high’.

The appearance of the work as we see it today is the result of a historic restoration following a series of complex procedures that began in the second half of the 19th century. Until 1936, in fact, the figure was depicted as St Catherine of Alexandria, characterised by the customary attribute of the spiked wheel [on which she was tortured] in place of the current unicorn; on her shoulders a heavy cloak altered the outline of the figure, covering part of the view of the landscape behind. 

Della Pergola (1959) was the first to suggest that the work came from the Aldobrandini collection on the basis of a description in the inventory of 1682, later published in its entirety (Della Pergola 1962, p. 321): ‘A panel painting with a woman sitting with Alicorn in her arms [face], approximately one and a half palms high with a black frame by uncertain hand, somewhat flaking as in the aforesaid inventory at folios 192 no. 40’. However, this hypothesis is not totally convincing (C. Bon Valsassina 1984, p. 25; Herrmann Fiore 1992; Tarissi de Jacobis 2003, pp. 168-169) due to discrepancies in the dimensions of the panel, already noted by the scholar herself and confirmed in the inventories of the Aldobrandini collection from 1623 (Testa 2001, p. 47; idem. 2021, pp. 376-379; 380) at least until 1769 (Minozzi 2006). Another hypothesis (Costamagna 2000) argues the work may be recognisable in the inventory dated before Cardinal Borghese’s death (Corradini 1998, in Bernini scultore. La nascita del Barocco in Casa Borghese, Exhibition Catalogue, edited by A. Coliva and S. Schütze, Rome 1978, p. 455, no. 256). In spite of the similar measurements to the Lady with Unicorn, the description ‘A painting of St. Catherine in walnut frame with gilt ovals, 2 3/4 high and 2 1/4 wide. Raffaelle’ seems, however, more likely to refer to St. Catherine of Alexandria (now in the National Gallery, London, inv. NG 168) since the London panel, formerly in the Borghese collection and sold to London in 1801, is the only one with this subject to be found consistently in all the family’s inventories, including that of 1693, of which it still bears the identification number in the bottom right-hand corner, clearly attributed to Raphael.

Giovanni Morelli (Lermolieff 1874) was the first to point out a link between the work and the ‘portrait of the Florentine Maddalena Doni in the style of Perugino’; indeed it had already appeared as such in printed material available to the public since 1854.  This may have followed an identification of the subject already in circulation, later partially corrected by the critic in 1897 by shifting the attribution to Francesco Granacci or Ghirlandaio. Equally important was the connection, first suggested by Morelli (1890), between the painting and Raphael’s drawing in the Louvre (Musée du Louvre, Département des arts graphiques, inv. 3882). Moreover, as recently noted, a photograph of the panel appears in the catalogue of images in the Prince Albert Collection edited by Carl Ruland in 1866 with similar references to Maddalena Doni and the Louvre drawing (Bonetti, Seccaroni 2023).

The work was attributed by Venturi to Andrea del Sarto (1893) and later to Michele di Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio (1925), but Cantalamessa was the first to hypothesise, on the basis of the stylistic discrepancies found in the painting, that a later painter was responsible for the transformation of the original subject, still unrevealed, into St. Catherine (1916). Credit for full recognition of the painting’s authorship by Raphael must go, however, to Roberto Longhi (1927), who suggested that the repainting was the work of Giovanni Antonio Sogliani.

X-ray examinations carried out in 1933 by the Director of the Gallery, Achille Bertini Calosso, revealed the figure beneath and it was therefore decided to undertake restoration work, which was entrusted to Augusto Cecconi Principe. The fixing of the painted surface preceded the destruction of the original panel; the colour was then transferred onto a canvas then laid onto a new wooden support, and the overlays of repainting were removed with a scalpel. The original subject came to light, revealing the presence of the unicorn, symbol of chastity (De Rinaldis 1636). An invasive operation, which prompted a further intervention by the Central Institute for Restoration in 1960. New X-rays taken on that occasion revealed the presence underneath the unicorn of a dog, an animal associated with the concept of marital fidelity, while a light cleaning allowed the ribbon binding the left sleeve to be recovered. There remain unresolved doubts about the circumstances, the commissioner and thus the person for whom the original portrait was painted.

Following the 1936 restoration, critics largely agreed on the attribution of the work to Raphael, dating around 1506 (for an essential bibliography: Carli 1959; Della Pergola 1959; Valsecchi 1960; Berti 1961; E. Lucie Smith 1961; Castelfranco 1962; Tea 1963; Fusero 1963; Ciardi Dupré 1964; Becherucci 1968; Wagner 1969; Ferrara 1970; Rizzati 1975; Oberhuber 1982; Bon Valsassina, 1984; Ferino Pagden, Zancan 1989; Hermann Fiore 1992; Ferino 1994; Herrmann Fiore 1997; Costamagna 2000; Meyer zur Capellen 2001; Henry 2004; Minozzi 2006; 2023). Coliva (2006; 2020) brought the dating of the work forward to between 1504 and 1505, considering it to be a depiction of Maddalena Doni as a bride-to-be, thus predating the portraits of the spouses Agnolo and Maddalena (Uffizi Galleries, inv. 1912 nos. 61, 59). These would have been produced between 1507 and 1508 on the occasion of the birth of one of their children, in line with the dating suggested by Shearman (J. Shearman, On Raphael Chronology 1503-1508, in Ars naturam adiuvans. Festschrift für Matthias Winner, edited by V. von Flemming, S. Schütze, Mainz am Rhein 1996, pp. 201-207).

Freedberg (1961), Kelber (1963; 1979), Dussler (1966; 1971) and De Vecchi (2002) were of a different opinion and argued in favour of an attribution to Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio around 1508-1509, while Ragghianti (1978) upheld the attribution to Granacci.

At any rate, the panel is considered to be an early work by Raphael, like the above-mentioned drawing in the Louvre, which scholars attribute to Raphael as a preparatory study (Knab, Mitsch, Oberhuber 1984; Joannides 1983; Viatte 1983, no. 50). It clearly reveals the influence of Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, supporting the hypothesis of direct contact during Raphael’s period in Florence. More recently, it has also been conjectured that the drawing, despite its similarities to the Borghese panel and the Portrait of Maddalena Doni, should rather be considered as a study in its own right exploring the innovations of Leonardo’s portraiture (Henry 2004). It has also been associated with the Portrait of Costanza Fregoso (Cordellier, Py 1992; Viatte 2003) attributed to Raphael by Lucco (2000), with a consequent shift in the dating of the Borghese panel to 1507.

Analyses – particularly the most recent ones – using elemental concentration maps (XRF Mapping), have highlighted in some areas a deterioration in elements of the original layers, as well as residues of paint that were not removed (Alberti, Frizzi, Gironda, Occhipinti et al. 2023). Multispectral imaging has revealed the delicacy of the drawing under the delicate, luminous layering of colour with which Raphael rendered the complexion of the face. It is interesting to note in the underdrawing the reference lines used for the symmetrical positioning of the figure in the slight rotation of the bust, revealing aspects previously undetected in other female portraits by Raphael (Cucci, Cherubini, Picollo, Seccaroni, Stefani 2023).

Marina Minozzi