In Venice in the 16th century, the female image acquired an importance perhaps never seen before in the history of painting. This is due to various factors, such as the presence of Titian and other artists working both in Venice and on the mainland, who were particularly interested in the beauty of women, but also, in parallel, the special status women had in Venetian society. Beauty, love and poetry are the central themes of the female portraits by Titian and his contemporaries and successors in 16th century Venice, including Paris Bordon, Lorenzo Lotto, Jacopo Tintoretto, Palma il Vecchio and Paolo Veronese. They range from representational portraits to half-length images of ‘Venetian beauties’, from pairs of lovers to heroines and saints, from literary women and poetesses to fascinating mythological and allegorical figures. Between eros and ambiguity, virtue and voluptuousness, heroism and seduction, the power of women emerges in all its ambiguity of gesture through their beauty, their strength and their central role in universal world events. Produced in collaboration with the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, the book has been published on the occasion of the extraordinary Milanese exhibition.