woman wearing white headdress while holding blue bowl painting

Portrait of a Woman, 1638-39 by Guido Reni. The subject may represent Artemisia II of Caria (d.350 BC) wife of Mausolus, the governor of Caria in Asia Minor. After the death of her husband, she mixed his ashes in liquid which she drank, making herself a living tomb. The story was used as a symbol of a widow's devotion to her husband's memory.