Its dating is based on stylistic similarities to Lotto's Allegory of Virtue and Vice, a cover Lotto had produced for his own Portrait of Bernardo de' Rossi. It was probably a cover itself, possibly for Portrait of a Woman (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon). Lotto was then a young protege of de' Rossi, who had gathered a small circle of writers and artists around him. Radiography has shown a partial under-drawing for a different image, probably a Hercules at the Crossroads, another theme on the choice between vice and virtue.
Description
The background landscape recalls Dürer's watercolours and Giorgione's landscape paintings. A young woman in white and gold leans against a laurel tree in the centre, possibly referring to Daphne, and ignores two satyrs (one female, one male), symbolising intoxication and lust. A putto pours a cascade of white flowers over her.
