The woman depicted is, according to tradition, the lover and muse of Raphael: Margherita Luti, the daughter of a baker's Trastevere, from which the nickname “la Fornarina”. There has been no news of who was the patron of the work, and this may support the hypothesis that Raphael has painted for himself, in the last years of his life.
Whether or not this is for the lover of Raphael, behind this face imperfect, is marked, it hides a representation of Venus. The laying on of hands, a lying in her lap, the other on the breast, following the model of the “Venus pudica” of classical statuary: a gesture of modesty, which, however, directs the viewer's gaze on precisely what you would like to hide. Symbols of the goddess of love are also the bracelet of the woman, which reads “Raphael Urbinas”, author's signature, and a pledge of the bond of love, as well as, the background, the bush of myrtle, and branches of the quince, a symbol of fertility.
The framework was already part of the first owners of the palace, the Sforza di Santafiora, and was one of the first to be purchased by the Barberini family.