Portrait of a Young Woman with a White Headdress

Some of the highest praise received by Rogier during his lifetime came from the great theologian and philosopher Nicholas of Cusa (1401–64). Upon viewing Rogier’s self-portrait in one of the pictures in the Brussels Town Hall, Cusa was so deeply moved that in his text De visione dei (1452), he refers to this portrait by the “maximus pictor” and its eloquent gaze as a simile for the gaze of the “all-seeing
God”. The motif of the seeing gaze and of a communing with the beholder was an innovation in the portrait painting of that time. Jan van Eyck and Rogier van der Weyden were the first artists in the Netherlands to prepare the way for this novel conception of portraiture.
Unlike most portraits of that era, where the sitter seems to withdraw into him or herself, gazing into emptiness or, in the case of diptychs, turning devoutly towards the Madonna, the gaze of this young woman – which seems to express sympathy and profound understanding – attempts to make contact with the beholder. The sitter is turned slightly towards the right and is depicted as a half-figure. Her youthful, lively countenance is framed by a two-part, Flemish winged bonnet in white linen, which
is held together artfully with a pin. The fine weave of the cloth allows the young women’s high forehead to show through. Corresponding to the ideal of beauty at that time was not just the high forehead, but also the typical head covering known as a “hennin”, which was preferred by ladies in courtly society. The effect of the bonnet worn by this young woman is simpler and less grand, and it identifies her as a member of the upper middle classes. The contrast between the white cloth,
with its stiff folds, and the delicate skin colour of the face accentuates the latter’s beautifully curving contours. The simple robe is made of a simple grey woolen material. The sitter’s hands, which are adorned with rings, are folded on top of one another and rest on an imaginary parapet, which coincides with the lower edge of the picture. The background is executed in a dark neutral tone.
This portrait of a young woman is usually ascribed to Rogier’s early creative period. It may date from 1440, circa five years after he became established as the city painter in Brussels. In attempting to genuinely appreciate the significance of Rogier’s purchase, one is reminded of Jan van Eyck’s celebrated portrait of his own wife, which dates from 1439 (Bruges, Groeningemuseum, fig. left).
An attribute shared by both paintings is the way in which each woman turns towards the beholder with a direct gaze. In Jan van Eyck’s portrait, this gaze is however more restrained and nuanced, while in Rogier’s painting, it is more immediate and hence less reserved. To an equal extent, however, both likenesses testify to a new, psychologically deepened understanding of the depicted individual. The
comparison with Jan van Eyck has led to the question of whether Rogier may perhaps have depicted his own wife in this image. In the absence of definite references, uncertainty remains concerning the identity of this young woman, who Rogier van der Weyden has depicted in such a lifelike fashion, and in a way so unconstrained by strict representational conventions. Rainald Grosshans | 200 Masterpieces of European Painting – Gemäldegalerie Berlin, 2019