Alexandrina 

Valeria Duca painted 'Alexandrina' using oil paints, a medium that has been a staple of artmaking for centuries. The key to oil paint lies in its slow drying time. This allows the artist to blend colors seamlessly and build up layers of detail gradually. Notice how Duca has used this to her advantage, creating subtle transitions of light and shadow across the figure's skin, giving it a soft, luminous quality. But the very ease of this process is also meaningful. Since the Renaissance, oil painting has been associated with the culture of wealth, and specifically with an aesthetic of beauty and sensuality that reinforces established ideas about the body. Consider the history of labor that is embedded in the creation of the artwork. From the cultivation of flax for linseed oil, to the careful grinding of pigments, a great deal of work goes into the making of the materials that artists employ. This is often overlooked when we consider the final, polished form of the artwork. By highlighting these connections, we can begin to appreciate the full depth of meaning contained within 'Alexandrina', pushing beyond the traditional boundaries of art history and aesthetics.