In reality, the lady portrayed would have been part of the nobility of the time, with a costume compatible with that of the wealthy women of the territories controlled by the Republic of Venice.

Previously assigned to Giorgione, the painting is today commonly accepted as a youthful masterpiece by Titian; further evidence is provided by the absence of the modulated sweetness of the painter from Castelfranco Veneto, replaced rather by a pulsating vitality.

There are also close similarities with the woman protagonist of the Miracolo del neonato, a Paduan fresco by Titian dating back to 1511.

This composition was drastically rehandled by Titian somewhere about the year I540, the face and neck and the red drapery being entirely repainted, with the result that the colour is now rather dead and Heavy.

[1] From October 2009 to January 2010, La Schiavona was loaned to the Henry Moore Institute in Leeds to be shown as part of an exhibition called "Sculpture in Painting".