The Vestal Virgin Tuccia

The Vestal Virgin Tuccia, dated 1555 and in the National Gallery, London, is one of Moroni's rare works depicting a classical subject rather than a contemporary individual or biblical scene. Tuccia was a Roman Vestal Virgin whose chastity was miraculously proved when she carried water in a sieve without spilling a drop—an emblem of female virtue and miraculous purity. The subject had a specific currency in mid-sixteenth-century Italian culture as an emblem of chaste womanhood, appearing in printed emblem books and used to compliment virtuous women by association. That Moroni—primarily a portraitist—chose or received a commission for this subject suggests its function as a complimentary image, possibly associated with a specific woman. The painting demonstrates Moroni's ability to apply his observational gifts to an allegorical subject, giving Tuccia the specific physical presence of a real person rather than an abstract ideal.

Oil on canvas with Moroni's warm observational technique applied to a figure in antique or allegorical dress. The sieve—the key attribute—is prominently placed and rendered with the material specificity Moroni applied to all objects: real woven metal, real moisture at its surface. The figure's face retains Moroni's characteristic individual warmth even in this non-portrait context.