A young lady of fashion
| Support Type: | Wood Panel |
| Paint Type: | Oil Paint |
| Current Location: | Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum |
Paolo Uccello was a revered Italian Renaissance painter from Florence who was a master at perspective painting. Paolo was a painter of the late Gothic tradition and thus was used to courtly sophistication. Although eventually emerging mercantile classes and nobility started making robust commissions. The peak of the Italian Gothic art showed stylized tall figures, swaying shapes and exotic clothing. In fact fashion was a big part of the movement as some paintings and sculptures were done explicitly to show off the costumes. Uccello, thus combined both the Gothic style and linear perspective, characteristic of the early Renaissance. He was trained under Ghiberti and worked with mosaics. Much of his perspective works are found in major frescos. As said before, paintings of the Italian Gothic were often done solely for fashion or costume representation and the subject almost acts as a model. This portrait- "A young lady of fashion" is of similar character. Clothing and ornaments play a major role. The woman's picture itself is flat and is set against a backdrop of dark blue colour. She has blond hair and fair skin dictating the contemporary beauty archetype. She is adorned with fabulous fabrics, pearls and gems which enhance her appearance. The puffed up red and gold sleeves are in contrast with the blue overdress. The subject herself is unknown but the way she is painted, she becomes the face of the then prevalent stereotypical beauty.
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