Portrait of a Woman (La Bella)

Circa 1525, Palma Vecchio painted this half-length portrait around 1518-1520, showing a young woman in a red and blue dress holding a small jewel box. The sitter raises one hand to her hair while gazing directly at the viewer. For years it was attributed to Titian and known as "La Bella di Tiziano." The mysterious initials carved on a stone at lower left remain undeciphered.

The painting once hung in Rome's Sciarra-Colonna Palace before passing through the Rothschild family's collection. Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza acquired it in 1958. Elements like the jewel container and the relief of a rider trampling a naked figure suggest themes of vanity. Now at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid.