In Portrait of a Young Woman Known as "La Bella", how is the Description discussed?
The sitter, shown half-length, has been said to possess a "high and aristocratic air" in her red mantle, holding a jewel-case in her left hand, and her face, with its finely chiselled features, is turned to the spectator. "One hand", write Crowe and Cavalcaselle, "plays with the locks of hair which fall luxuriantly over the shoulder, the other holds a box of ornaments on a marble pedestal. The snow-white bosom is chastely veiled by a fine web of white drawn together in the closest and most delicate plaits. Over this comes a parti-colored mantilla of stiff tissue in gay shades of red and ruby, cut into numerous angular sections, lined with bright ultramarine diversified with the snowy texture of a muslin handkerchief. From wrist to elbow the arm is lightly decked with a lace sleeve braced at intervals with ribbons of red and green, and striped with colors of the same. It is impossible to conceive anything more indicative of quality than this figure, and though we notice a certain want of balance in the mass of the draperies, and a lack of nature in the kaleidoscopic mode of setting them, the harmony of all the bits thus put together is so grateful and bright, the touch is so delicate in grain, that we wonder and admire."
Crowe Cavalcaselle