Visual analysis further challenges the painting’s association with Diane de Poitiers. The figure seems to exist in a vacuum. She is set against a dark, undifferentiated ground that forecloses the possibility of situating her in space or time. Her face also lacks distinguishing traits. Her nondescript features, flushed cheeks and flaxen tresses represent a 16th-century ideal of female beauty; her diaphanous veil—which blurs the graceful contour sloping down from the nape of her neck—heightens this sense of abstraction. Attribution of the painting to a specific author might offer us clues about the figure, but the style is too general to be associated with a known 16th-century artist. These cumulative ambiguities make the title Portrait of Diane de Poitiers hard to uphold. Not only is it unlikely that the painting is related to Diane, but its status as a portrait—specifically a portrait based on a real, living model—also seems dubious.
The painting’s enigmatic nature invites us to probe more deeply with analytical tools that circumvent our optical limitations.
Figure 1: School of Fontainebleau (French, 16th century), Portrait of Diane de Poitiers (?), c. 1550, oil on panel, 16-3/8 x 12-7/8 in. (41.6 x 32.7 cm), Norton Simon Art Foundation, from the Estate of Jennifer Jones Simon, M.2010.1.174.P