Bust portrait of a young woman with an elaborate hairnet
A finished bust drawing; the upper corners carry later inscriptions of attribution and identity
This sheet bears a carefully finished bust portrait of a young woman seen in three-quarter view, her hair drawn back into a fine net with a jewelled ornament at the brow and a long sheathed braid falling behind, above a richly patterned bodice. The features are modelled with delicate hatching around the eyes, brows and lips, while the costume and lower edge are handled more summarily. The two upper corners carry later ink inscriptions, one at the left and one at the right, that give an attribution and name a sitter; these are described but not transcribed here, and further untranscribed text is present. A collection number appears at the lower right.
On this page
Head and hairnet of the young woman
The head is turned to the sitter's right in three-quarter view, with large lidded eyes, arched brows and a small closed mouth set down in fine strokes. The hair is bound close to the skull in a decorated net, with an ornament at the brow and a long sheathed braid descending behind the neck.
Patterned bodice and shoulders
Below the bare neck and shoulders the sitter wears a bodice worked with a dense woven or brocaded pattern, its neckline and a knotted tie indicated with looping contour lines. This lower part of the figure is left more open and unfinished than the fully modelled head.