Laura da Pola, whose canvas is a pendant piece with the portrait of her aristocratic husband, Febo Bettignoli da Brescia, is portrayed here in her twenties in a mature masterpiece by the Venetian painter Lorenzo Lotto. Against a dark background, brightened by the green colour of the curtain, the woman sits at a kneeler holding a small prayer book. In spite of her resigned pose, she wears a dark, very sophisticated dress in two shades of the same colour, with expensive accessories. At the time, in fact, it was not permitted for unmarried women to appear in public: these fashionable details should therefore be read as a celebration of the status of wife that the woman had acquired, authorised to display herself and her rank, above all, thanks to her successful marriage. In 1859, the two portraits were put up for sale and bought for the Pinacoteca: the money was fronted by the Venetian, Francesco Hayez, the famous painter of The Kiss, now an icon of the Milanese museum.