_Berlin Gallery_]
Lavinia, however, would be attractive in any dress, with her fresh young
beauty and simple unconscious grace. Her features are not modelled in
classic lines: the charm of the face is its fresh color, the pretty
curves of the plump cheek, and, above all, the sweet open expression.
The hands are delicate and shapely, as of one well born and gently
reared. Lavinia is perhaps not a very intellectual person, but she has a
sweet sunny nature and is full of life and spirits. It would seem
impossible to be sad or lonely in her cheery company. She holds her
precious burden high, with an air of triumph, and turns with a smile to
see it duly admired. The delicious fruit certainly makes a tempting
display. The girl's innocent round face and arch pose remind one of a
playful kitten.
The painter has chosen a graceful and unusual attitude. The curves of
the outstretched arms serve as counterbalancing lines to the main lines
of the figure. The artist himself was so pleased with the pose that he
repeated it in another picture, where Lavinia assumes the gruesome rôle
of Salome, and carries in her salver, in place of the fruit, the head of
St. John the Baptist!
A few years after our portrait was painted, Lavinia was betrothed to
Cornelio Sarcinelli, of Serravalle, and a new portrait was painted in
honor of the event. When the marriage settlement was signed Lavinia
brought her husband a dowry of fourteen hundred ducats, a royal sum in
those days. The wedding was on the 19th of June, 1555.
Some years after her marriage Lavinia again sat to her father for her
portrait. Her beauty, as we have noted, was not of a lasting kind, and
in the passing years her fresh color faded, and she became far too stout
for grace. Yet the frank nature always made her attractive, and it is
pleasant to see in the kindly face the fulfilment of the happy promise
of her girlhood.