Bust Of A Young Woman, Venice Late 17th Century

This marble bust, carved in the round with a flat back, depicts a young woman dressed in a fabric with incised stripes, her head turned to the right. Her tied-back hair is adorned with a veil resting on the back of her head and forming a star-like shape.
The subject appears to be secular: there is nothing to link this sculpture to Christian iconography, nor indeed to antiquity - the two main sources of inspiration for sculptural themes in 17th-century Venice. It seems that this bust depicts an ordinary woman, probably a peasant.
This highly original style of headdress is notably found in a work by Tommaso Rues (1636-1703) in the figure of Esther adorning the façade of the church of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice, in a more elaborate version. As for the full, gentle face, it evokes the art of the Groppelli family, a family of Venetian sculptors active in the late 17th century. Such as the round face found in two works sculpted by Giuseppe (1675-1735) and Paolo Groppelli (1677-1751): Lust, on display in the Summer Garden in St Petersburg, or Touch, sculpted for the Villa Giovanelli in Noventa Padovana.
This half-length bust was likely intended as part of a large decorative ensemble for a palace where, paired with its male counterpart, it was meant to illustrate a secular iconographic programme.