Young Woman at her Toilette

At an already advanced age, Bellini turned to the depiction of a new, “modern” theme, the female nude. In a balanced interplay of warm and cool colours, round and rectangular forms, proximity and distance, activity and passivity, the painter of the Madonna pays homage to the sight of a young woman. Absorbed in her own reflection, she embodies at the same time the act of contemplation. Yet the actual subject of the painting is beauty and the creative power of painting.