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Portrait of a Young Woman (Main View)

Nicolaes Pickenoy

The J. Paul Getty Museum

The J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, United States

Painted to commemorate her marriage, this portrait of an unknown young woman is the pendant to Nicolaes Eliasz. Pickenoy's Portrait of a Man. An inscription dates the painting to 1632 and gives her age as twenty-one. As was common in such pairs of paintings, the young woman's three-quarter pose matches her husband's: each turns slightly toward the other while facing the viewer.

Pickenoy was particularly adept at meticulously rendering details of his sitter's costumes, seen here in this carefully accurate portrait of a middle-class patron. The sitter is distinguished by her costume of rich black satin with a gold-embroidered bodice. Delicate white lace forms her elegant cuffs and headdress. An enormous, pleated collar surrounds her neck. She wears gold jewelry around her waist, neck, and wrists; a ring adorns her right hand. In her left hand, she holds a pair of gray silk gloves embroidered in multicolored silk threads.

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The J. Paul Getty Museum

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