Blog #3

The Portrait of a Young Woman by Lorenzo di Credi is a realistic representational painting. It is a portrait of the widow of Credi’s brother. The woman in the painting has expression in her face and has details around her eyes. The puffiness around her eyes tell the story of her weeping at the lost of her husband. She is dressed in all black and in her hands she holds what looks like to be her wedding ring. You can see the sadness and somberness in her eyes along with a mournful pout across her lips. Around her head you can see tree branches and leaves framing her face. It is almost has if the painter tried to create a black halo around her face. The artist manages to convince the viewer that this women was a grieving widow. In Ways of Seeing by Jonh Berger, Berger states, “By contrast, a woman’s presence expresses her own attitude to herself, and defines what can and cannot be done to her”. I feel that this quotes expresses the essence of the painting because her presence is a depressing one. The artist portrays her depression in the way he paints her eyes, bringing them away from the viewer almost as if the woman is too pained to look at anyone in the eyes.