# Portrait of a Woman Holding a Book [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [CARPACCIO, Vittore]() - Date: 1501-1550 - Technique: Oil on basswood, 43 x 31 cm ## Commentary Unlike Florence, very few female portraits from the late Quattrocento and the years about 1500 survive from Venice. The present painting belongs to a small group of female portraits attributed to Vittore Carpaccio. Shown in three-quarter view facing right, the woman wears her hair parted in the middle and gathered in the back, where it is held by a net studded with small white beads. She is dressed according to Venetian fashion well documented for the period around 1500. The woman's dress and hair style are close to those in <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/d/durer/1/05/04veneti.html'\)" href="/html/d/durer/1/05/04veneti.html">Dürer's Portrait of a Venetian Woman</a> in Berlin, or the <a onclick="return OpenOther\('/html/d/durer/1/05/01veneti.html'\)" href="/html/d/durer/1/05/01veneti.html">Portrait of a Young Venetian Woman</a> in Vienna. The sitter of the portrait is not identified. She could be a woman who has had a humanist education, or perhaps a pious lady holding a book of hours or a similar devotional book. ## Related artworks - [Agony in the Garden]() - [Apotheosis of St Ursula \(detail\)]() - [Apotheosis of St Ursula]() - [Arrival of the English Ambassadors \(detail\)]() - [Arrival of the English Ambassadors \(detail\)]() - [Arrival of the English Ambassadors \(detail\)]() - [Arrival of the English Ambassadors \(detail\)]() - [Arrival of the English Ambassadors \(detail\)]() - [Arrival of the English Ambassadors \(detail\)]() - [Arrival of the English Ambassadors]() - [Baptism of the Selenites \(detail\)]() - [Birth of the Virgin]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()