Describe the characteristics of the Raphael's lover in this artwork's Identity of the figure.
Another interpretation of the woman's identity assumes her to be Raphael's lover named Margherita; the figure's father was a baker and thus earned her the nickname of La Fornarina. According to Giorgio Vasari. Margherita supposedly refused to marry Raphael every time he asked. She was his muse and appeared as the subject in many of his paintings. She is shown wearing items associated with wealth and her assumed romantic relations to the painter. Her golden armband signed Raphael Vrbinas, and the appearance of a ring on her left, fourth finger can be seen as Raphael’s indication of La Fornarina as his. However, she did end up leaving him. When she left him, it is said that Raphael fell into despair and could no longer paint, so Pope Leo and one of Raphael’s most prominent patrons, Agostino Chigi, went looking for Fornarina in order to get rid of her. Pope Leo X believed that Raphael was just infatuated with the woman and not actually in love, so if they were rid of her, Raphael would return to his art once he heard she was gone. The Pope offered her money to disappear and she accepted; later, Raphael asked Chigi for help, promising to focus on his painting while he looked. Chigi returned without the woman and a fake letter saying that she would return to Raphael once the Chigi portrait was finished. Experts are divided on the veracity of this story.
Giorgio Vasari Raphael Pope Leo X Pope Leo Agostino Chigi