Lady of the Lycnids

The portrait is dated 1602, during Rubens’ Mantuan sojourn. The female figure, called the “Lady of the Licnidi” after the flowers entwined in her hair, seems part of a series of famous women painted by Rubens for duke Vincenzo Gonzaga. The Spanish Infanta Isabella Clara Eugenia, daughter of Philip II, patron and protector of Rubens, has been proposed as the sitter.