Study of a Young Woman

Just imagine this painting in a 17th-century interior with low light coming in from a window, or even provided by a lit candle. How three-dimensional this might look? The frame of the picture might even suggest a window and the figure is positioned behind it.

The young woman depicted here was a model for this painting. But, she is presented in such a highly individualized way perhaps more so than even Vermeer's most famous painting, Girl with the Pearl Earring.

It's very important to know that these pictures were not intended as portraits. Instead, these works were collected as intriguing-looking characters—including the beautiful, the ugly, the old, and the young. This type of picture was made to appeal to a collector of the time.

The young woman's costume would have suggested exotic, perhaps Middle Eastern dress, to contemporary Dutch viewers.

And her face, so luminous against the dark, velvety background, has an unusual kind of beauty.

This face is so anatomically striking, while her expression is serene and engaging.

She looks off to the side...

... but her smile clearly responds to us.

This facial expression was likely an expected or desirable feature for this kind of picture, as the viewer was probably meant to find the sitter not only physically interesting, but also haunting or intriguing, prompting us to think about what kind of person this could be.