Portrait of a Young Woman

The composition and accoutrements correspond to those of the panels from the 1520s depicting idealized female portraits. Together with variants in London and Coburg this painting belongs to the rarer large format works in this group. A comparison of these three works revealed a composite production process. In the portrait from St Petersburg the view of a landscape opens out unusually on the left side behind a diagonally draped curtain. The elegant dress with slit sleeves and an embroidered bodice is simpler here whereas the jewellery around her neck is richer. The jaunty beret on her head that appears with and without feathers on other portraits as well as representations of Judith directs the eye to her loose hair and identifies the sitter as an unmarried woman. Her hairstyle with the carefully curled locks that frame her face in single strands is unique among the portraits and lends the image a delicate character. The combination of standards and variants shows the earlier identification of the sitter as Sibylle von Cleve to be absurd. It has received much appreciation, serving as an inspiration for both Alberto Giacometti und Andy Warhol.

[Carrasco, Exhib. Cat. Düsseldorf 2017, 222, No. 123]