The pearl-studded diadem

The young woman wears only a headscarf with a pearl circlet and diadem - the latter is clearly visible in the wall mirror. The diadem identifies Bellini’s beauty as the goddess Venus. The poet Hesiod tells us that Venus – Aphrodite in Greek - is one of the daughters of Uranus and that her name means “born of the surf”. This refers to the somewhat delicate family ties in the house of Uranus.

Urged on by his mother Gaia, Uranus’ son Cronus cuts off his father’s genitals and throws them into the sea. Aphrodite emerges from the mixture of blood and semen with the foam. To be precise she alights from a giant shell, which is why pearls, such as those on the diadem, are closely linked to the goddess symbolically.