Portrait of a Girl

A photograph of a painting now in the Galleria Borghese, Rome (inv. no.371). The authorship of the painting and the identity of the sitter are matters of dispute. Some scholars suggest an attribution to Raphael, whereas others (Joannides 1983) think that the painting was laid in by Raphael and finished by another artist (Ridolfo Ghirlandaio?). The photograph shows the painting prior to the restoration (1936) that removed heavy overpainting thus revealing the original pose of the hands and the presence of an unicorn underneath the wheel. Before such restoration, the attributes of the wheel and of the palm leaf led scholars - including Ruland (1876) - to interpret the painting as a picture of St Catherine of Alexandria.