An uncommon ‘Woman’ at the Portland Art Museum
In a brown-curtained, dimly lit room at the Portland Art Museum, mystery is on view: “The Woman with The Veil,” Raphael’s 1516 painting of a young woman who might have been his lover.
Welcomed with modest pomp and circumstance, this painting of a perfect-skinned young woman dressed in silk and veil is the museum’s latest show and a rare event: the single-painting show. But expectations for “Woman” are the same as they would be for a show of 50 paintings, which might explain the increased $17 admission to see the painting.
Yet one thing is unequivocal: “Woman” is gorgeous, and you should enjoy it while it’s here.
The arrival of the painting from the Palatine Gallery in Florence, Italy, represents the culmination of roughly 16 months of negotiations between the museum, the Italian government and the New York-based Foundation for Italian Art & Culture, a nonprofit whose primary mission is to promote Italian culture through partnerships with American museums.
The export of treasured artworks from Italy has historically required hand-wringing and patience akin to harvesting winter vegetables. Overcoming bureaucratic challenges from a country that rigorously abides by its own rules of time and tradition might have been part of the appeal to the Portland museum as much as securing the painting itself.
But after paying an unknown amount to cover the loan fee for the painting, in addition to committing $200,000 for the cost of the actual exhibit, the museum got its jewel.
Not all shows are treated equally by museums. Some are treated specially. Such is “Woman.” Twenty-five people at a time are allowed to view the painting, with a 15-minute viewing limit that seems imposed about as strenuously as a casual summer meal under the Mediterranean sun. A security guard, however, stands at attention next to the work, ensuring that no one touches the painting or gets too close.
In the summer, the museum hinted it would place protective glass between the painting and viewers. It didn’t, though, allowing the public to better experience the painting’s shimmery radiance.
For a High Renaissance painter, Raphael was subdued, maybe even unpretentious, compared with contemporaries like Leonardo da Vinci. Perhaps that’s why he’s not as celebrated. Then, as now, we live in a culture that pays greater attention to drama.
Still, this is a splendid painting. Simply, it’s a portrait of a young woman dressed in a sumptuous silk dress and veil that seems to encase but not engulf her. Her right hand clasps the middle of her chest, while her left moves under it. A precious necklace and bracelet adorn her neck and left wrist. Of course, she’s near-perfect because Raphael wanted us to see her that way.
Raphael was not as cerebral or psychological as Leonardo. By comparison, he strived for a clear-headed authority over his subject and craft. That makes interpreting this painting a kind of exercise in detective work. Nothing in it hints directly at a relationship, if any, between artist and subject.
But some have theorized that the woman was Raphael’s lover, and as evidence link the painting to “La Fornarina,” a more sensuous Raphael painting of a nude woman who bears resemblance to the subject of “Woman.” Others speculate she was the bride of a patron.
It isn’t clear who she is, but mystery is part of the attraction of Raphael’s unassuming gem. Will those quiet powers be enough to lure the public through the museum’s doors at a time when the institution, like so many others, has suffered declining revenue and attendance figures?
Traffic for the show Sunday — a day after the exhibit opened –was busy but not overwhelming. Timed entry for “Woman” allows the museum to sell 25 tickets every 30 minutes, which means a delay between the time of purchase and the moment you get to see the painting. For me, that delay was an hour.
But admission to “Woman” also means admission to the museum’s other major fall offering, “China Design Now.” Since visitors don’t have to wait in a line after buying a ticket, they can spend the interim perusing that or the museum’s other offerings.
But is “Woman” worth the money?
It depends whom you ask.
Pedr Davies, visiting Portland from Manchester, England, said this special painting should have been treated less singularly. Exhibiting it with other works from the same period might have given “Woman” greater context and made the price of admission less intimidating to those who might have issue with it. “The price is reasonable, actually,” he said. “But in Britain, museums are all free.”
Theresa Truesdell of Portland agreed with Davies but was more taken by the painting. “She looks extremely perfect,” Truesdell said.
Truesdell’s partner, Tye Aldana, felt additional works might have added historical context to the exhibit but that hardly mattered to Aldana. The museum’s hushed, behind-the-curtain treatment, including extended panel educational notes, made “Woman” a worthy novelty.
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