Bust of a Woman 1555 - 1565

Luca Cambiaso rendered this ‘Bust of a Woman’ with pen and brown ink in the 16th century. The bust, a classical form, presents a woman draped in fabric, her gaze serene. This form echoes ancient Roman portraiture, designed to immortalize the subject. Yet, it also evokes something deeper, a sense of timeless beauty reminiscent of the figures in Botticelli's paintings, figures who embody a Neoplatonic ideal of spiritual grace. Consider the recurring motif of the draped figure, a symbol found across various cultures. In antiquity, it represented status and piety, but as time passed, it became a symbol of modesty and even grief. Think of the ‘Ecce Homo’ depictions during the Renaissance where Christ is draped. It speaks to the cyclical nature of symbols, how they continually resurface, evolve, and are imbued with new meaning across history. We are constantly negotiating our relationship with the past as it appears in the present.