https://venice.dahvc.org/fall-2020/files/original/Dana_s_Collection/Portrait_of_Tullia_d_Aragona_as_Salome/830px-Moretto_da_Brescia_-_Portrait_of_Tullia_d_Aragona_as_Salome_-_WGA16230.jpg 8b07082e453a922688fb58944e6ec237 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Dana's Collection Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Portrait of Tullia d'Aragona as Salome Subject The topic of the resource Portrait of Tullia d'Aragona as Salome Creator An entity primarily responsible for making the resource Moretto da Brescia Date A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource ca. 1537 Contributor An entity responsible for making contributions to the resource Dana Hogan Rights Information about rights held in and over the resource Web Gallery of Art Format The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource Oil on panel, 56.0 x 39.0 cm Type The nature or genre of the resource Painting Coverage The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, Brescia, Lombardy Description An account of the resource A centrally-positioned woman gazes directly at the viewer, her head cocked to the side as she reclines on a stone wall bearing an inscription. This inscription identifies one level of the figure’s identity as the biblical femme fatale Salome: "QVAE SACRV[M IOANIS] CAPVT SALTANDO OBTINVIT," which translates from Latin to “I won John’s head with a sacred dance.” John’s head is not shown here, nor is Salome engaged in dance, her infamous act of seduction. She is in repose, coolly and regally eyeing her audience, richly dressed in lace, fur, and velvet with an elaborate, jeweled coiffure. The scepter lazily held in her hand demonstrates both her power and her confidence in her authority (compare to Judith’s sword). In the late nineteenth century, Guido Biagi presented this portrait as a faithful likeness of Tullia d’Aragona – a sixteenth-century philosopher, poet, and courtesan – as a type of Muse in the guise of Salome [1]. This portrait has been dated to c. 1537, when d’Aragona was living in Ferrara, where she inspired legendary passion in the literary men at court. In 1547, d’Aragona’s philosophic Dialogue on the Infinity of Love and volume of poetic exchanges were published by the Venetian printing house Giolito. Years earlier, her home in Venice had functioned as literary salon and became the setting for Sperone Speroni’s Dialogue on Love, written in 1537 and published in 1542. D’Aragona’s dialogue responds directly to Speroni’s, as Speroni included Tullia as a character who was unflatteringly associated with irrational, animalistic, carnal love. In her own dialogue, Tullia again appears as a character, but one who controls the conversation and establishes parity between men and women in sensual and intellectual love. If this portrait is indeed of d’Aragona, it alludes to the power of her beauty and sexuality, and her ability to corrupt men. The circumstances of this commission are unknown, though it is unlikely that d’Aragona would have chosen to represent herself this way. In her writings, d’Aragona skillfully crafts her persona, and her self-representation consciously creates distance from her occupation as courtesan. While this image projects the image of refinement that d’Aragona strove for, it lacks any allusion to her learning or cultural production, and emphasizes the very aspect of her identity that she struggled to subsume. This image shows her as she might have been viewed by a man who lusted after her, but not as she wished to be perceived. [1] Guido Biaggi, Un’etera romana: Tullia d’Aragona (con ritratto) (Florence: R. Paggi, 1897), 3-4. Source A related resource from which the described resource is derived <ul> <li>Biaggi, Guido. Un’etera romana: Tullia d’Aragona (con ritratto). Florence: R. Paggi, 1897.</li> <li>d'Aragona, Tullia. Dialogue on the Infinity of Love. Venice: Giolito, 1547.</li> <li>Gombosi, György. Moretto da Brescia. Basel: Holbein-Verlag, 1943. Image Source: Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo</li> </ul>