"Like so many of Titian's other works, it is likely that this portrait is an idealized portrait of female beauty, and not a precise depiction of any one person. This is corroborated by the Duke of Urbino, who, in a letter he wrote on May 2nd 1536, simply described it as the ""lady in the blue dress"". The painting gains its opulent, sensuous appeal mainly from its masterful combination of colour values, from the blue dress with red sleeves, through to the flesh tones and the golden brown, skillfully plaited hair."