Profile Portrait of a Lady
Shown from the chest up on the far side of a narrow ledge, a woman wearing an elaborate headdress and gown faces our left in profile in this vertical portrait painting. Her pale-peach skin is smooth with little shading around the features. The hazel eye we see is heavy-lidded under a thin, arched brow. The woman has a notably high forehead and a sloped nose. Her lips are closed over a knobby chin and fleshy jawline. Her hair is gathered up in a fine gold net under a twisted, ring-like headdress held in place with long gold pins. The fabric of the headdress alternates between twists of parchment brown or light brown patterned with red or darker brown leaf patterns. A network of muted blue dots encircled with gold does not quite line up with the headdress it overlays. The high collar of the woman’s peacock-blue dress flares up the back of her head over a white collar that curls away along either side of her chin. The garment is covered with flowers and stems outlined in gold. There are thick gold bands at her neck and around her waist. A chain made up of two strands of gold orbs like oversized beads hangs from the shoulder closer to us and then wraps around her body. A gold pendant near her neck may be two chain links or a thin letter B. Light glints off the ledge along the bottom of the painting, and the background is inky black.
Details
- Palette
-
Select a color to find related artworks.
- Medium
- oil on panel
- Dimensions
- painted surface: 52 × 36.6 cm (20 1/2 × 14 7/16 in.) overall (panel): 53 × 37.6 cm (20 7/8 × 14 13/16 in.) framed: 74.3 × 61.28 × 7.62 cm (29 3/8 × 24 1/4 × 3 in.)
- Department
- CNE-R
- Holding institution
- National Gallery of Art
- Image provider
- national-gallery-of-art
- License
- CC0-1.0
- Credit
- Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Art Genome Taxonomy
9 tags
Subject Matter
-
Individual Portrait Both · 99%
The catalog identifies the work as a portrait, and the image visibly presents one sitter from the chest up in profile.
-
Related to Fashion Both · 95%
The sitter’s elaborate headdress, high collar, patterned gown, and ornamental accessories are central visual features, and the catalog specifically describes her costume in detail.
Visual Qualities
-
Highly Ornamented Both · 98%
The headdress, collar, gown, and chains are densely embellished with repeated decorative motifs; the catalog likewise describes the headdress and gown as elaborate.
-
Patterns Visual · 98%
Repeated floral, stem, circular, and bead-like motifs organize the headdress and blue garment surfaces.
-
Dark Colors Visual · 99%
The sitter is strongly isolated by a very dark, nearly black background that occupies most of the surrounding field.
Medium and Techniques
-
Oil Painting Metadata · 99%
The catalog classifies the object as a painting and specifies oil on panel.
-
Oil on Panel Metadata · 99%
The recorded medium is explicitly oil on panel, indicating a painted wooden support.
Time Periods
-
15th Century Art Metadata · 99%
The catalog dates the painting to approximately 1410 and identifies the maker as Franco-Flemish 15th Century.
Jewelry and Fashion Object Types
-
Necklaces Both · 94%
Several long strands of repeating bead-like ornamental forms are visibly draped across the sitter’s shoulder and torso; the catalog describes a two-strand gold chain.
Source & rights
Franco-Flemish 15th Century. Profile Portrait of a Lady. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.