Domenico Ghirlandaio, Giovanna Tornabuoni

Domenico Ghirlandaio, Giovanna Tornbuoni, 1488, Early Italian Renaissance

1) The figure is guessed to be Giovanna Tornabuoni from Ghirlandaio's The Visitation in the Santa Maria Novella, which portrays an essentially identical woman who was identified by a medallion

2) Portraiture, such as this piece, came from the merchant class's wealth-enabling commission of secular faces (Giovanna was from a very wealthy merchant family)

3) Image indicates her character and wealth -- posture indicative of rightness and fortitude; clothes symbolic of money, beauty, and family colors